A 20-year-old UCT student, facing rising costs of eating out, independently learned programming and created the Bites app. This program is designed to help users compare food prices and discover inexpensive establishments.
For Dylan Steiner, a UCT student, the situation was familiar: he wanted to enjoy a meal with friends without worrying if the food was worth the price. Going out in Cape Town was becoming an increasingly expensive pleasure for Steiner, who was shocked by the prices set in some restaurants.
Instead of just complaining, the student, born in Johannesburg, decided to create something useful for people, helping them make more informed decisions. The result was Bites—a food-oriented app that allows users to find restaurants, compare dish prices, and share what they are eating.
Steiner worked on the app for about two months, self-teaching coding and developing the platform. He stated: 'I have been working on this app for the last few months, and I am very happy that it has finally appeared and launched.'
From Student Frustration to a New App
The idea for the app arose from Steiner's personal experience as a student trying to find budget-friendly places to eat in Cape Town. Although he loves the city, especially its diversity and nightlife, he noted that the cost of visits had become one of the biggest drawbacks.
Steiner emphasized: 'As a student myself, it is very difficult to go out in the evening, and restaurants charge ridiculous prices for food.' He and his friends regularly looked for reasonably priced venues, but finding these hidden gems was not always easy. Steiner felt frustrated by paying large sums for food that wasn't necessarily commensurate with the price.
He wanted the ability to know the approximate cost of a dish and assess whether it offered good value for money before spending money. This frustration formed the basis of Bites. Currently, the app includes 300 to 400 restaurants across Cape Town. Steiner personally visited over 400 establishments to manually enter their menus and prices, ensuring users had a selection from the moment the platform launched.
One Idea and Hours of Self-Learning
Steiner reported that the app was largely a solo project—from concept and design to writing the code. He shared: 'I had to learn the code myself, and it was an amazing journey in learning to code, using AI to help me, teach me, and improve the app.'
According to Steiner, he spent about five hours a day working on Bites over the past two months. He funded the project himself using money from debate tutoring, as well as savings accumulated during his two years in the United States, where he worked as a waiter, DJ, and cook. The total development cost was between 2000 and 4000 Rand.
The app is currently free, which Steiner believes is important for maintaining its accessibility for students and other people looking to stretch their finances. One of the biggest price differences he personally encountered concerned the dish that originally inspired the concept. Steiner paid 130 Rands for half a chicken with rice at Nando's, but then discovered that Crispy King, a restaurant across the street, sold a similar dish for 79 Rands. He noted that the cheaper dish was larger, which made him wonder why consumers automatically choose the more expensive option.
More Than Just Food Price Comparison
Bites allows users to upload photos of dishes and prices, and the algorithm is designed to identify unusual prices and calculate average prices for specific dishes. Prices can also be marked as verified if the menu is uploaded by Steiner or the restaurant itself. Users are warned if the information might be outdated, and Steiner hopes the platform will eventually become largely self-sufficient through the participation of more people in providing price information.
The app goes beyond simple price comparison. Its social feed, called Snacking, allows users to see what people nearby are eating, and the budget feature helps track expenses for eating out. Users can also plan meetups with friends, organize group outings to restaurants, keep a food diary, and earn points and badges for contributing to the platform. For Steiner, the ultimate goal is to create a community of food lovers while helping consumers find the best option.
He plans to expand Bites from Cape Town to Johannesburg, Pretoria, and other major South African cities before eventually taking the concept abroad. Steiner stated: 'I want to cover all of South Africa, and I want the app to become the main place where people look for food.'
Despite the recent launch, Steiner noted that the initial response exceeded his expectations. He initially expected to attract around 200 users by the end of the year, but two of his TikTok videos went viral and contributed to downloads. On the first day alone, the app received about 160 downloads. For a young student who had never created an app before, this response reinforced his belief that the problem he was trying to solve resonated with many people. Steiner gave simple advice to other students with ideas: start. He concluded: 'If you truly believe in the app and think it solves a problem you have, just do it.' Currently, Steiner continues to balance his studies with the project, which has consumed most of his time and energy. But what started as his personal frustration over food costs has turned into an ambitious attempt to change how people discover, compare, and experience gastronomic experiences.