Atly CEO: Gen Z Taps Social Networks for Restaurant Discovery

As consumers seek more effective digital tools to discover new restaurants, many — especially younger generations — are increasingly trusting social platforms for recommendations.

In an interview with PYMNTS, Uriel Maslansky, CEO and co-founder of Atly, a social media mapping platform that launched last week with $18 million in funding, said tools built around crowd-sourced reviews fail to offer consumers the specificity they are looking for.

“We see a lot of friction,” Maslansky said. “People still trust old platforms but are frustrated by being unable to find the relevant categories or the relevant terms they’re looking for. Yes, you can find a restaurant, but if you want the restaurant — when you’re looking for the best espresso cup or the best place to work from or the best date spot, etc. — it’s very hard to do it on platforms like Google Maps, Yelp, Foursquare.”

Conversely, he said tools that can provide more specific recommendations for different kinds of consumers, such as social media, are not ideal for high-intent searches, leaving consumers to, for example, screenshot a video intending to try a restaurant out and never returning to it.

Driving discovery is key to restaurants’ ability to compete. According to data from a PYMNTS survey of more than 2,200 U.S. consumers, first-time customers account for 13% to 22% of purchases at full-service restaurants (FSRs) and 7% to 12% at quick-service restaurants (QSRs). Plus, the study found that 34% of restaurant customers had tried out a new eatery in the prior month.

Attracting the attention of younger consumers is especially important, given that these groups are disproportionately open to trying out new spots. Fifty-one percent of millennials and 43% of Generation Z consumers reported having purchased from a new restaurant in that period.

To reach these young consumers, providing a social experience is key, but Maslansky said most social networking platforms are unwieldy when it comes to discovering restaurants.

“People, especially Gen Z, are doing this today on social networks, and they find themselves dealing with incredible content and amazing recommendations on the wrong platforms,” Maslansky said. “It’s very, very hard to find the right restaurant around you, the right coffee shop around you, on these endless feeds.”

Meeting this need for social expertise is especially key as younger consumers increase their reliance on these kinds of platforms. PYMNTS’ study “How the World Does Digital: Daily Digital Engagement Hits New Heights” drew from a survey of more than 17,500 consumers in 11 markets that account for 50% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP). The study found that, whereas the average consumer engages in 2.3 distinct social media activities each month, that figure shoots up 43% to 3.3 for millennials and 52% to 3.5 for Gen Z consumers.

Maslansky said that by combining social expertise with a purpose-built tool such as Atly, consumers can have more trust in the restaurant discovery process.

“The information is there, the people are there,” he said. “You can trust these real people. You can trust that you’ll get amazing recommendations. You just get frustrated by the platform.”