Tablebud: Restaurant app development for social food discovery

TableBud was already a validated product before partnering with NERDZ LAB: it was live as a web app with people actively using it in production. Building a dedicated iOS and Android mobile app that facilitates restaurant discovery was the next stage.

We assisted in the development of a foodie community app that enables users to curate restaurant lists, receive reliable recommendations from friends, and utilize an interactive map to facilitate a seamless mobile-first experience.

The journey towards building a social food community wasn’t without its bumps. NERDZ LAB faced the following challenges:

• Mobile rebuild from scratch: Building for a mobile experience meant rethinking architecture and design with a focus on mobile users first.
• Firebase-only architecture: No regular backend, which initially sounded simple, but it made things more complicated. We had to determine where business logic should be placed, how to ensure data security, and verify its accuracy, as well as consider scaling down the line.
• Geofencing done right: We needed to track visits automatically, but without draining the battery, compromising iOS or Android background limits, or people’s privacy.
• Clarity over feature overload: The social food community app combined maps, social features, and reviews, so we had to ensure the experience remained clean and straightforward.

To support software development for startups, we rebuilt TableBud as an iOS and Android mobile app, enabling faster updates and easier growth. We stayed sharp on product vision but didn’t let engineering get bogged down. As a result, TableBud feels light and easy to use, yet it’s packed with everything you need in a social dining companion:

• Mobile-first UX: We redesigned the main flows to make the restaurant review app feel intuitive and scalable.
• Firebase architecture: We organized Firestore data, set up validation, and established security rules. The backend runs on Firebase alone, and it’s solid and consistent.
• Geofencing: We’ve built visit detection to minimize battery usage and respect your privacy.
• Social experience: Suggestions now come from friends you can trust.
• Quality & releases: We have established solid QA and release routines. Now the food discovery platform runs more reliably, stays fast, and updates roll out on schedule.

Our strategy ensured that the experience was both feature-rich and lightweight by fusing engineering discipline with product thought.