Dressed in a navy button-down and khakis, Andrew Glantz, a student in the business school majoring in finance and entrepreneurship, looks a bit out of place on a causal Friday before spring break. While other business students may wear button-downs day-to-day to enhance their overall professional persona, Glantz was preparing to make a pitch to a restaurant loved by many Washington University students: Seoul Taco.

Glantz started the app company FoodShare, LLC along with incoming Dartmouth College freshman Aidan Folbe eight months ago. Through FoodShare’s iPhone app, users refer their friends to restaurants and, when they both make a purchase, receive a financial reward paid by FoodShare. Initially, users will earn points (50-150, depending on the restaurant) by either referring a friend to a restaurant or following a recommendation by snapping a picture of their receipts. After accumulating 2,000 points, users will receive a $10 cash reward.

Over 40 restaurants, including Salt + Smoke and Ranoush Middle Eastern Restaurant, have already partnered or been targeted by FoodShare so far. The iPhone application was recently submitted to Apple for review and began Beta testing. Foodshare is aiming for a release date in late March.

Glantz says the idea was born while sitting in a California Pizza Kitchen with Folbe during their lunch break while interning for the venture capital firm Navitas Capital. Folbe recalled, “The actual flash of genius came when [Glantz] and I discussed the emptiness of the restaurant…Our minds started working together like clockwork from that moment.” They began talking about a menu app idea that eventually turned into FoodShare. Glantz added, “I would start saying things, and [Folbe] would reply, ‘What do you mean by that?’ and it would go back and forth like that.”

The two key consumers for the app are restaurants and consumers, and Glantz noted that FoodShare aims to serve the need for a universal referral app. Glantz said that from the restaurants’ perspective, it is difficult to attract new customers, elaborating that “Customer acquisition is seven times more costly than retaining an old customer.” In addition, he mentioned that the current method of attracting new consumers through newspaper advertising and other media makes it hard for restaurants to find the return on investment. New customers using FoodShare, on the other hand, will be easily quantifiable.

From a user outlook, Glantz sees three benefits. First, it will allow people to discover new places to eat. Glantz remarked that previously, he would almost exclusively go to Chipotle when eating off campus, and he would love to see other Wash. U. students expand their dining horizons.

He also believes that Foodshare can act as a social network in allowing users to see where their friends are eating. He highlighted that having personalized recommendations will be better and more credible than looking at reviews on Yelp.

He admits that there is a potential for users’ inboxes to accumulate spam, but believes that the social aspect of the app will help deter that.

“If users are referring their friends to bad restaurants,” Glantz said, “then friends will not want to act on their referrals anymore because they will lose credibility.” Finally, the two mentioned the financial benefits that come with using the app.

For the time being, St. Louis will act as FoodShare’s test market, and its success at Wash. U. may be a key indicator of the app’s future. Glantz said that St. Louis was chosen for entrepreneurial resources such as start-up space provider T-Rex and the Skandalaris Center, as well as its familiarity.

“We figured that you need to prove that you can win in your own backyard before you can prove that you can win nationally,” Glantz said.

Their plan is to appeal to Wash. U. students before growing to other St. Louis campuses and expanding to the St. Louis market over the summer. Folbe elaborated, “I would like to have many of the independently-owned restaurants in St. Louis signed on for our six-month free trial period. This way, we can gain insight on how our business is doing.” In the future, Glantz and Folbe hope to expand FoodShare to the Midwestern market and then to high-density cities such as New York and Los Angeles.

Folbe mentioned that they place a high emphasis on maintaining user interest and continue to make small step-by-step improvements based on customer feedback in order to successfully scale the business. It seems that this strategy reflects the founders’ previous work experience at Navitas Capital, which emphasized building a profitable and attractive start-up company.

After working with successful start-ups, Glantz strives to be a model for investors and hopes to attract funding such as a $50,000 contribution from Arch Grants. When asked about fundraising through the popular reality TV show “Shark Tank,” Glantz laughed and said, “I would love Marc Cuban to invest in my company if we could get on ‘Shark Tank’!”

Until then, Glantz and Folbe hope for a successful app launch and early success. In the meantime, he has received some good news: Seoul Taco has signed on!