Show HN: CheapFoodMap – A map of good meals under $10

This feels like GasBuddy, but for food.

One of the reasons GasBuddy took off was that it wasn't just based on community reports; there was an incentive for gas stations themselves to accurately report their prices and keep them up to date.

It seems like you're trying to discourage businesses from participating (e.g. by not accepting sponsored placements), and that will have implications for your growth rate. I think you should look for ways to give businesses an active role, without eroding user trust in the recommendations, of course.

Think of the possibilities:

- Business can add coupons to its listing, making cheap food even cheaper

- Business can confirm a reported deal, adding to its credibility

- Business can provide full menu and a link to order takeout

I don't think any of those features would make users feel like the business is "buying" a listing it didn't earn.

The leaderboard with acorns is a smart touch. gamification might actually solve your price freshness problem better than anything else. If updating a price earned acorns too, your top contributors would keep the data current for you. Nice project, and the 10% to food banks commitment on the about page is a good look.

Nice! I've always wanted something like this clubbed with Coupons, Offers and combos that can be a steal deal sometimes.

Could see this being useful for people who are on the road for a living, or regularly operating in areas where they’re not familiar with the offerings. Truck drivers, salespeople, etc.

That said, kneejerk after using it is: price is a challenging anchor, because food is not uniform. I’d be curious if users are more interested in “under $10, ignoring all else” or “a better deal than comparable” - though, there’s a lot of subjectivity in that.

Gasbuddy works because 1 gallon of gas = 1 gallon of gas, so price is a useful anchor.

$5 for sushi at one place could be a bad deal, while a great deal at another place.

An $8 steak would be cheap. An $8 hot dog would be a ripoff.

I’d be skeptical of restaurants luring people with a single cheap item, or about quality/portion changes.

All this said, Ikea is known for designing furniture _around_ the price their target customer thinks a table should cost. Restaurants are likely (hopefully!) aware of where these price thresholds are for their customers … and your site could be an interesting way of sending them a different type of customer than they’d historically targeted. Or, allow them to refine an offering to maximize profit at the $10 price point.

As others have said, engage restaurants and make them part of the equation. They’re not your adversary.

In short: cool! Do lots of experiments and research!

I wish this had existed when I was a student. Please support non-US locations as well.

I love the idea, but a quick glance (randomly at SF) reveals entries that aren't "meals" (IMO, anyway) but rather snacks - like two spring rolls for $8, or a slice of pizza for $5.53. Also, the days of a $1 slice may have (long) gone, but $5.33 for a slice seems median at best, not "cheap".

Have you thought about either some guidance, or even a filter, for meal size?

At the bottom of the lists, after you've scrolled through and clicked on some restaurants, you should have a "I'll do it myself" button that uses some llm to create a $10 meal recipe using the restaurants you clicked as inspiration.

Define "good" and "meal"

I like the idea. It would be nice a worldwide map. I mean, not only across the US.

I like that I can filter by a specific area, but I wonder if people would be better served to get down to regions instead of a city. Dallas is pretty big, and I don't want to drive from Love Field all the way to Lakeside for lunch...

It would be great to somehow either

- Get to the map from a city list

- refine the city to a neighborhood level

When visiting the US, I lerned that a meal that costs 10$ is actually 10$ + some random tax + a tip = 20$

Would love to see restaurants in Canada included

What about just linking their Google Business instead of filling out a submission and uploading photos? That actually helps the business rank more.

거지맵 meaning beggar is a generous translation of the word

Dropped a couple spots in my area. I like seeing the deals in the community section.

Do you filter out snacks/appetizers?

I love it, but I want EU support!

A lot of things aren't healthy like pizza and fried chicken.

They should add the cost of future open heart surgery to the cheap meal.

Why wouldn't you just use Google Maps with a single-$ price filter?

No results in my particular metro area, but I love the idea!