Alexa Andrzejewski
Alexa Andrzejewski is the Founder and CEO of Foodspotting, a website and mobile app for finding and recommending dishes, not just restaurants. As the UX designer behind Foodspotting, Alexa sees herself as the "chief storyteller," responsible for capturing the imagination of her team, partners and investors through metaphors, mantras, user stories, sketches and detailed designs. Foodspotting has received attention from The Today Show (twice) The Cooking Channel, Travel + Leisure, iTunes and Google Play (repeat "App of the Week"), as well as Mark Zuckerberg in his 2011 f8 keynote. Alexa has been profiled in Financial Times Magazine, Inc Magazine’s “30 Under 30” and Gourmet Live’s “50 Women Game-Changers.”
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- And then I go and randomly friend old connections via People You May Know, so you can wonder too...
- When people friend me on LinkedIn I always wonder, "Were they thinking of me or did I just show up on People You May Know?"
- Woke up to find a surprise package filled with Momofuku cake truffles, corn cookies and other wonders of the world from @menghe!
- RT @ChristianPalino: Interested in human-centered research, restaurants & diners? Join @foodspotting @ladylexy @masimuddy @sethland @dude_…
- "Most discovery happens outside of discovery apps." Do you agree? Where did you 1st hear about the last 3 restaurants you tried? #FCmobilize
- Thanks #FCmobilize! Parting words: Think beyond discovery apps. Support discoveries and activities already happening elsewhere! #FCmobilize
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Tweets
- Did we miss your favorite pie? Tweet your favorite with the #PieBattle hashtag!May 22, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- Mmmm PIE Apple! http://t.co/SQvzK3Zjk7 Pecan! http://t.co/LMC1M0Wgkd Cherry! http://t.co/aBdMhFpc5p Lemon Meringue! http://t.co/0HFjj0Cvh3May 22, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- Time for a pie battle! We’re going to tweet some sweet favorites. Retweet the one you like the most with #PieBattle hashtag!May 22, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- The weather is verging on tropical here at Foodspotting HQ in SF. We love this sunshine! Tell us what you crave when the weather is warm...May 20, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- TGIF! Happy Fries Day. What's your favorite way to eat a French fry? http://t.co/ALbpSUPUTq We'll go first - extra salt and black pepper!May 17, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- 'Tis the season for asparagus. How do you like it? On top of a pizza pie...my oh my! http://t.co/qkod0o3ft7May 16, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- Are you a cookie monster? Today is your day! Where will you celebrate Chocolate Chip Cookie Day? http://t.co/cx3zTY26GtMay 15, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- Pop quiz answer time! If you guessed HUARACHE, you got it right! Muy bien. Hungry for a huarache? http://t.co/3Y9BQ2fxBUMay 15, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- Pop quiz! What's this dish? Originally from Mexico City, it got its name because the corn masa cake is shaped like the sole of shoe...May 14, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- It's National Shrimp Day! As Bubba said to Forrest, "You can BBQ it, boil it, broil it, bake it..." Shrimp-spiration! http://t.co/Apx5kuWvFI
- If you could build a hotel entirely of cake, what flavor would it be? For sweet inspiration check out this cake hotel http://t.co/UkSyDdqxdU
- RT @WHERESF: Love food? Love #SanFrancisco? Enter our @Foodspotting contest this month! For an amazing #SFHotSpot prize! http://t.co/5zzffs…
- When was your last magnificent meal and what did you order?
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Posts
- May 18, 13
Everything here is vegetarian. Including the chicken. Does not compute!
- May 16, 13
I wish I had a better photo because this dish was amazing! Juicy melt in your mouth medium rare chunks of lamb and a delicious yogurt sauce with pickles young almonds and other fancy flavors I can't remember.
- May 11, 13
With truffle and runny egg! Amazing and so close to FoodspottingTable!
- May 11, 13
Perfectly creamy sweet and savory soup! I could eat this every day.
- May 10, 13
This is the sight of delicious juicy meat taking over the city! Beef was great, chicken was even juicier!
- May 10, 13
Sneak preview! First sighting here. This place is going to be amazing.
- May 07, 13
Beautiful but a bit too crunchy for my taste -- too many cucumbers and not enough flavor. The wasabi was a but overwhelming. But I've loved almost every other sushirrito, this one is just not for me.
- May 04, 13
The candy cap maple flavor and scent is quite overwhelming. I can still smell it on my fingertips!
- Apr 17, 13
Spontaneous trip to the Sunset! We offered someone a ride home from SOMA, because we always need an excuse to eat legit noodles and bubble tea!
- Apr 17, 13
Yes, this is ja ja myun by another name. (No whole wheat tho, that part was scratched out.) Next time I think I'll just get a bowl of noodles with tomato sauce. The noodles are great as ever but the sauce was weirdly sweet and I just wanted to eat noodles.
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- Oakland Internet Cat Video FestivalGrand And Broadway
- Yoda StatueLetterman Dr
- Flour + Water2401 Harrison St
- King of Noodles1639 Irving St
- Christopher Elbow Chocolates401 Hayes St
- The Milk Shake Factory1705 E Carson St
- Ramen Dojo805 S B St
- Sloat and Great HighwayGreat Highway
- Nail SquareLogan Valley Mall
- Jang Su Jang3561 El Camino Real, #10
- Pinkberry170 Ofarrell St
- Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot215 S Ellsworth Ave
- Ocean BeachPoint Lobos Ave
- AMC Bay Street 165614 Bay St, Ste 220
- Ici Ice Cream2948 College Ave
- Ferry Plaza Farmers Market1 Ferry Building
- Chile Pies & Ice Cream601 Baker St
- Foodspotting HQ164 Townsend St, #11
- Oakland International Airport (OAK)1 Airport Dr
- Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT)1000 Airport Blvd
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Info
- Summary
Alexa Andrzejewski is the Founder and CEO of Foodspotting, a website and mobile app for finding and recommending dishes, not just restaurants. As the UX designer behind Foodspotting, Alexa sees herself as the "chief storyteller," responsible for capturing the imagination of her team, partners and investors through metaphors, mantras, user stories, sketches and detailed designs. Foodspotting has received attention from The Today Show (twice) The Cooking Channel, Travel + Leisure, iTunes and Google Play (repeat "App of the Week"), as well as Mark Zuckerberg in his 2011 f8 keynote. Alexa has been profiled in Financial Times Magazine, Inc Magazine’s “30 Under 30” and Gourmet Live’s “50 Women Game-Changers.”
Before launching Foodspotting in January 2010, Alexa was a User Experience Designer for Adaptive Path, where she helped both startups and enterprises craft great experiences through strategy, research and design. Projects included diagnosing Twitter's New User Experience through user interviews, analytics and personas, exploring the future of mobile with Nokia and architecting the mobile app for Rail Europe. Following in the footsteps of other Adaptive Path colleagues, she set out to build her own “UX-Driven Startup” when she realized there were many restaurant review apps, but there was no easy way to find or rate specific dishes.
Alexa is thankful to Women 2.0, Startup Weekend, iPhoneDevCamp and all of the others who helped her realize that Foodspotting could be more than a side project, and she wants to help others do the same by sharing what she's learned with others through writing and speaking. Past appearances include An Event Apart, SXSW, WebVisions and Big Omaha.
Experience- Jan 2009 - PresentFounder & CEO / Foodspotting
Responsible for the vision, strategy, design direction, product management and oversight for the first and leading app for finding & rating dishes instead of just restaurants.
- Jan 2007 - May 2010Interaction Designer / Adaptive Path
Helped both startups and enterprises craft great experiences through strategy, research and design. Projects included diagnosing Twitter's New User Experience through user interviews, analytics and personas, exploring the future of mobile with Nokia and architecting the mobile app for Rail Europe. Before that, Alexa was the lead interaction designer for the 2008 MySpace redesign and conducted ethnographic research that informed Palm OS.
- May 2005 - Dec 2006Interaction Designer / Lextant
By understanding and designing for users ranging from nuclear pharmacists to insurance shoppers, helped to develop successful products for clients including Nationwide, Cardinal Health, Johnson & Johnson, CheckFree and Hewlett-Packard.
Education-
2001 - 2005The Ohio State UniversityVisual Communication Design in Interaction Design, Information Design, Typography
Additional Information-
Websites:
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Interests:persuasive technology, designing for social good and behavior change, making hidden costs visible, public place design, mobile interaction design, information graphics
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Posts
- Apr 23, 13
One week of giveaways just wasn’t enough, so Foodspotting and OpenTable brought back the Perfect Pairings contest for one more round. Name your favorite pair of foods (or drink!) and you’ll be entered into a daily drawing for $100. That’s enough green to cover dinner for two!
If you haven’t entered yet, get on it! Here’s how:
- Follow @OpenTable on Twitter.
- Tweet your #perfectpairing.
- Bonus: use a Foodspotting.com URL or add a photo to your tweet for an extra entry!
- There's a daily drawing throughout the week, so you can submit one #perfectpairing each day.We loved seeing everyone’s submissions last week. There are so many combinations out there! Some are truly classic, while others are creative, or really, really unusual. We wanted to offer a glimpse into what you think are the most universally loved food pairings.
Here are the most popular #PerfectPairing duos...
Fish and Chips Fancy the halibut Fish and Chips at The Olde Yorke Fish & Chips in Toronto, ON? Spotted by Chops.
Tortilla Chips and Salsa Spicy, crunchy, salty, and satisfying—this chips and salsa came from Spencer Makenzie's Fish Company in Ventura, CA. Spotted by J.Fried Chicken and Waffles This duo is one of the more common yet unusual pairings mentioned. Enjoy savory and sweet Gussie's Chicken & Waffle in San Francisco, CA, spotted by Stephanie Griffin.Chocolate and Peanut Butter This cupcake is just one of many ways to combine chocolate and peanut butter. It's from Let Them Eat Cupcakes cupcake in Honolulu, HI. Spotted by JKat.Chicken Wings and Blue Cheese Dunk your wings at Red Hot and Blue in Falls Church, US, spotted by Burger Days.Eggs and Bacon What better way to enjoy eggs and bacon than in the pasta dish Spaghetti alla Carbonara? This one was spotted by Fox W at Magnolia Wine Bar e Lounge in Roma, Italy.Beans and Rice It's a a longtime staple of world cuisine. Beans and rice make an extra-special showing as Andouille Sausage with Red Beans and Rice at Stella in Iowa City, IA, spotted by Tasha-Leigh.For even more sweet and savory dishes, browse the other Perfect Pairings!
- Apr 15, 13
Foodspotting and OpenTable go together like peas and carrots, peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese. To celebrate our delicious union, OpenTable is giving away dinner for two!
To enter, follow @OpenTableand tweet your favorite #perfectpairing (don’t forget the hashtag). For a bonus entry, include a picture or Foodspotting URL. You could win the daily drawing for dinner for two worth $100.
So let’s hear it—what’s your #PerfectPairing?
Spotted: Mac the Goat at Homeroom in Oakland, CA by James M Ngo, Chips and Salsa at Papalote Mexican Grill in San Francisco, CA by Adam Groffman, Apple Pie a la Mode at Rosebud Prime in Chicago, IL by David Rozek, Spaghetti and Meatballs at Brucie in Brooklyn, NY by LUNCH
- Mar 21, 13
The east coast has several exciting eatups happening in the next few weeks! Foodspotters, it's time to get together and chow down.
MIAMI: The second Miami eatup is coming up on April 17th at Pao Town from 7:00 - 9:00 pm. Fatgirl Hedonist is at the helm and has secured $2 draft beers. RSVP on the Facebook Event page and we’ll see you there!
PHILADELPHIA: Join in the belated birthday celebration at Ms.Goody Cupcake shop on April 13th at noon. For the occasion, they’re offering a special. It’s $3.90 for your choice of cupcake plus two cake truffles! Too hard to resist, right? RSVP on the Facebook Event page.
Spotlight on another recent east coast eatup:TAMPA: The previous Datz eatup looked like a ton of fun, and so it was no surprise that last Sunday's March 24th brunch at Besa Grill was also delicious. The 15 seat RSVP was full! If you're in the Tampa area, make sure to Like the Foodspotting Tampa so you don't miss out on the next great eatup.
Recently spotted: Sweet Cherry Pie at Ms Goody Cupcake - Custom Cakes and Cupcakes in Philadelphia, PA by Brian and Sticky Ribs at Pao Town in Coral Gables, FL by Cole Slaw
- Jan 31, 13
While you may not spot the changes right away, there's a lot going on under the hood in the latest Foodspotting iPhone update. In particular, we've completely rebuilt sharing to be faster and smarter than ever! We hope you’ll love several of the new features as they make Foodspotting even more fun and convenient to use.
Ever thought...?
- "I want to jot down the dish names while I still have the menu!" Now you can fill in the details like place and dish name and add the photo later. Just choose "Skip Photo" (the button on the right) and hit "Close" to save once you've filled in the details.
- "I take my picture before I've tasted the food!" or "I don't want to make my friends wait to eat!" Use the new saved drafts to take a picture and hit "Close" to save for later when you can add the details and share whether you loved it.
What else is new?
- Suggested Places: See suggested places based on where the photo was taken (if you've allowed location services) instead of your current location.
- Date Taken: See the date taken (instead of date uploaded) on your profile and following feed. Now people won't think you were eating a cheeseburger at 2am. Unless you actually were.
- Lists: Like Guides and Nearby Places have been unified to use unified search controls and paging.
Sound good? Go get it! Download or update the new Foodspotting app, and rate it five stars for five (and more!) great new features.
- Jan 28, 13
We just celebrated our birthday and over three delicious years of helping people find and share great dishes. Now we have something else to toast because we're joining forces with our friends at OpenTable, who have agreed to acquire Foodspotting!
When we founded Foodspotting, driven by our love of obscure dishes like okonomiyaki, Ted, Soraya and I set out to bring a dish-centric dining guide into the world and watch it grow. We raised some money, grew our team to ten (plus alum), and built a community that catalogued over three million dishes. Today, towards the same end, we're so happy to have found a great home for Foodspotting where our site, app, and community can continue to thrive while our entire team continues to focus on making your dining experiences awesome.
We’ve already been working closely with the OpenTable team as partners: In addition to making restaurant reservations via Foodspotting, you may have seen Foodspotting photos from select restaurants popping up on OpenTable. But we both realized we could create smarter experiences if we could integrate more deeply by, for example, recommending dishes when you make reservations to enabling restaurants to showcase their best dishes. We look forward to augmenting your dining experiences with Foodspotting’s recommendations to forge the shortest path between you and great food!
What does this mean for me?Rest assured that Foodspotting will continue to live on as a standalone product, as OpenTable deeply values the Foodspotting community and your contributions. You’ll still be able to spot food anywhere in the world, from street food stalls to seven course meals. But you can also look forward to smarter recommendations, better restaurant information and a more visual, social and design-driven dining experience as we bring the best of Foodspotting to OpenTable.
We hope you’ll celebrate with us as we reimagine dining with OpenTable. We’d love to hear what you’d like to see us create together, and look forward to making it happen!
- Jan 24, 13
April, Foodspotting's Head of Community, went on Southwestern Hoilday Road Trip a this year during her December vacation and got help from you on places she should eat. Here are some of her food highlights.
One could argue that it’s harder finding food on a road trip than if you were staying in one place over a vacation. For one thing, you never know where you’ll be when you get hungry. Thanks to Google Maps, you can try to predict lunch and snack time, but there’s a good chance you’ll get hungry in the middle of nowhere. Knowing that we were departing with a very helpful guide and Foodspotting, I was confident we’d have some incredible meals. And the Southwestern road trip did not disappoint. The trip was mostly Mexican or Tex-Mex with bright breaks of outstanding not-Mexican.
Where we went: Palm Springs, Tucson, Marfa, Austin then Van Horn, Truth or Consequences, Sedona, Palm Springs, San Francisco, with many stops in between!
Here are the highlights...
1. Salinas City BBQ (Salinas, CA)
The first stop was an out-of-the-way BBQ join in Salinas City. The rib sandwich? Meaty, saucy—worth it. The brisket was great too.2. Cheeky’s (Palm Springs, CA)
People love Cheeky’s bacon flight and rightfully so, but for me it was the side order of crispy waffles with salted butter that made this an extra-special breakfast. It was like a fancy Ego waffle. The rotating menu of brunch classics make Cheeky’s a place you should visit if you’re in the neighborhood.3. Cafe Poca Cosa (Tucson, AZ)
While it’s true that the colorful assortment of dishes at Cafe Poca Cosa weren’t a new discovery for this trip, it was food so memorable that we sped towards it. The menu changes nightly, but one constant is the Chef’s Choice—a plate with three dishes from that night’s menu, selected by the chef.4. Las Cazuelas (Deming, NM)
Deming, New Mexico is a small-ish town near another very small town, Hatch—home of the world famous Hatch chile. The restaurant shares a room with a meat deli, so we weren’t sure what would be placed before us. We got excellent beans (with hot dog!), along with an fabulous representation of Tex-Mex: green enchiladas, chile colorado, and chile rellenos.5. Pizza Foundation (Marfa, TX)
Remote west Texas might not sound like someplace you can get a good slice, but then again Marfa, TX isn’t typical. This little artist town has a ton of personality and also some very delicious food. We enjoyed a chill evening of pizza with the locals at the Pizza Foundation.6. El Primo Taco Truck (Austin, TX)
Although we were in Austin for a handful of days, regrettably we only had breakfast tacos one morning. El Primo Taco Truck is one man in one truck, busily cooking, taking orders, and serving up tortas, and the best darn breakfast tacos that we’ve had the pleasure of trying in Austin. Get the chorizo? As if there’s a question. (Yes, get it.)7. Habanero's (Las Cruces, NM)
It’s always a good sign to be asked “Your first time here?” when you’re walking towards a restaurant entrance only to be told “Well then, you’re in for a treat.” when you answer in the affirmative. This tiny restaurant starts thing off with a welcome soup once you sit down. Good mole, great green sauce too.8. BellaLuca Cafe Italiano (Truth or Consequences, NM)
BellaLuca was a great break from Mexican although they managed to make a beautiful dish fettuccini featuring the speciality ingredient of the area, the Hatch chile. We also enjoyed their wedge salad, which was a welcome insertion of green into an otherwise beige, brown, and red diet. We only wish there was room left for dessert! The perfect after dinner apéritif instead was a soak in a local hot spring tub.9. Happy Belly Deli (Truth or Consequences, NM)
The next great piece of morning history from this road trip was the highway-friendly breakfast burrito. The restaurant was a small slice of local personality, with residents discussing news and reading the paper.10. Pie-O-Neer Cafe (Pie Town, NM)
What does one order in Pie Town, New Mexico? Pie, of course! Our slices did not disappoint but if we had to pick a favorite, it’d be the Chocolate and Chile, Pinenut Pie. And the green chile stew was the perfect complement to the high-altitude chill in the air.11. Satchmo's (Flagstaff, AZ)
Satchmo’s provided the perfect non-Mexican comfort food: tater tots. The clackened catfish was also excellent and don’t ever pass up a brisket burnt ends BBQ. It’s a delicacy on it’s own.12. Heart of Sedona Coffee (Sedona, AZ)
While finding someplace to get our morning meal proved to be a challenge, our final pick did not disappoint. It was a little unwieldy in the car but the breakfast pita had a unique flavor thanks to feta, bell peppers, and an olive tapenade sauce.13. Jiao (Palm Springs, CA)
Cheeky’s owner has a few other restaurants in Palm Springs and for our return trip we visited the newest, Jiao. The Asian street food menu was a delight at this point in the trip, especially that fresh Mizuna Salad. We also chewed and sniffed our way through most of the shishito peppers.14. Sherman’s Deli & Bakery (Palm Springs)
Corned beef hash the way it was meant to be. This place was huge, efficient, and oh so good. You can't order wrong especially when most things come with a bagel.15. Romanti-Ezer (Santa Barbara, CA)
Where to begin with this final entry in our road trip food experiences? Their Horchata had ground peanuts on top along with a cherry and was unlike any we’ve had previously. The tortillas and pupusas were homemade so while we had to wait, it was worth it 100%. Our only disappointment? That the next time we want more of their incredible pupusas, we have to get down to Santa Barbara again. Did someone say road trip pt. 2?So what do you think? Anything you want to try? Biggies we missed? Thank you for your suggestions, Foodspotters! Next time you hit the road, don’t forget to pack Foodspotting and you won’t go hungry.
- Jan 15, 13
[View this album on Facebook: Three Years in Photos]
Make a wish and blow out the candles, Foodspotting turns three today! It’s been an incredible year with many new features, a beautiful redesign, not to mention so many new mouth-watering sightings and delicious eatups around the world. Thank you for being such an amazing, astounding, and hungry community of food lovers.Because no birthday is complete without a bit of reflection, here are some highlights from the past year, our most fruitful year yet:
- Launched our first ever web redesign since 2010
- Completely redesigned and rebuilt our iPhone & Android apps
- Celebrated our 3 millionth sighting; last year we celebrated 1 million!
- Piloted our rewards program in San Francisco this December
- Added Foodspotting to Facebook Timelines
- Partnered with Grubhub
- Appeared on the Today Show (Go, Alexa!)
Our incredible ambassadors and super users are leading the charge on birthday eatups, so join your nearby group of food lovers to find out about what’s in the works. Anyone can host an eatup, so if there’s no one in your area, check out our tips to getting an eatup started in your city.
Belgium - Florida - Kansas City - Las Vegas - Little Rock - Los Angeles - Netherlands - New York - Philadelphia - Sacramento - Seattle - Sydney - Turkey - Vancouver - Washington DC
Thank you for an awesome year and cheers to the future--we're working to make your Foodspotting wishes come true! - Jan 11, 13
The first eatups of 2013 are just around the corner. If you’re lucky enough to live nearby, join the fun and fellowship of local eaters! Interested in hosting an eatup in your city? Just follow the basics of how to host a Foodspotting eatup.
NEW YORK CITY: Join Ambassador Meng He for a 2-hour all-you-can-eat hot pot experience! It’s only $23 for meat, tasty sides, and a spicy/mild hot pot combo. It’s coming up Monday, January 14th at 6:00 pm, so don’t delay--RSVP if you’ll be there.
MIAMI: The Pincho factory is rumored to have the best fries in South Florida, so you won’t want to miss out on a February 6th Pincho Factory eatup. They’re offering $2 beer from 7:00 - 9:00 pm, so come hungry and thirsty. RSVP to join the fun.
Spotted: The Combo Hot Pot at M Tasty in New York, NY by stephiedoo and the Pincho Burger at The Pincho Factory INC. in Miami, FL by Hayz.
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