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| NYU Students' Obsession with Beli: The Ultimate NYC Restaurant Ranking App |
It's no secret that New York City is a food lover's paradise. With countless dining options, choosing where to eat can often lead to endless debates among friends. But here's where Beli, the hot new restaurant-ranking app, comes into play, and NYU students are among its most enthusiastic users.
Since its launch in July 2021, Beli has rapidly gained popularity within New York City's foodie community, attracting NYU students like bees to honey. This innovative app not only allows users to log and rate restaurants they've visited but also provides personalized recommendations based on their dining preferences. Acting as both a restaurant-ranking tool and a social platform, Beli enables users to follow friends and read public reviews.
Co-founders Judy Thelen and Eliot Frost conceived Beli back in 2019 and finally brought it to life two years later, albeit with a pandemic-induced delay. In an interview with WSN, Thelen and Frost shared their inspiration for creating Beli.
"We built Beli because we're obsessed with food," Thelen explained. "What we quickly realized is that [in] Gen Z, there was a massive appetite for something like this, which was super cool."
As food enthusiasts themselves, Thelen and Frost always wanted a more organized way to keep track of their dining experiences and preferences.
"We like to think that we're challenging the idea that there's a right answer about restaurants," Frost said. "We really like the idea that people should be proud of their own tastes and not feel like they're going to be judged."
Users can personalize their restaurant entries by adding written notes, highlighting favorite dishes, selecting category tags, and attaching photos to their reviews. Instead of a one-size-fits-all rating, Beli offers two scores per restaurant: a "Rec Score" (Beli's prediction of your preference) and a "Friend Score" (your friends' opinions on the restaurant).
Apart from catering to individual users, Beli has introduced features that encourage community engagement. The Dining Hall of Fame competition, involving 187 American universities, aims to determine the "foodiest university." Students can earn points for their school by ranking restaurants and referring new members. In recent weeks, NYU fell from second place to third, with the University of Chicago holding the top spot.
NYU senior Meredith McBride, who works as a Beli business analyst intern, played a significant role in shaping the Dining Hall of Fame competition.
"[Beli is] definitely extremely growing in popularity," McBride said. "I've worked a lot on organizing a big database of the social media and keeping up so that we don't lose any of that content."
In the fall of 2021, McBride was one of several college ambassadors for Beli, providing insights into potential app developments. Now, users can link Beli to their school IDs and join college-based leaderboards.
NYU sophomore Yolanda Guo is an avid Beli user and held a 27-week streak of Beli rankings at the time of her interview with WSN.
"Clearly, the app has [kind of] got me addicted to the NYC food scene," Guo said.
NYU senior Kaya Trefz has been using Beli for a year and appreciates the app's ability to foster community.
"It was like a communal activity," Trefz said, recalling her experience using Beli with a friend. "I think everyone can bond over food."
With cataloging apps like Letterboxd for film and Goodreads for books gaining popularity among college students, it's evident that we love documenting our favorite things and sharing them with the world. So, if you're an NYU student passionate about food and showcasing your culinary adventures, Beli should be your new go-to hobby.
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