Build a website like GrubHub.com
Just built a listing service with a small team. Here's how we did it:
1. A fast server with a good CDN (content distribution network). Amazon web services is great for this.
2. Outside API's or places where you can source data on restaurants (factual is good). May also need scrapers to scrape information from sites like yelp. See: Darktex/YelpScraper
3. Database that is designed to store lots of relational info. Within that DB you'll also need: A table for restaurant info with columns for: price, hours, type of food, etc.; A table for user info with columns for: Name, payment info, previous orders, etc.; and A table for UGC with columns relating to: reviews, photos, ratings, etc. You will probably want to moderate these tables so be sure to design the info flow of your DB carefully, such that nothing is out of your control. (Sql, MySql are good for relational sets of data and are user friendly)
4. Layers of security. Since the site will need to contain valuable personal information re: payments, this site should be protected by every firewall possible. I believe the permit for handling credit cards directly these days costs about ~250k so try to circumvent that by charging directly to merchants.
5. A client-side interface for communicating with restaurants. Unlike the user interface, this client interface will allow merchants to toggle their preferences for your service. This, I would make with web programming languages. Doesn't need to be pretty.
6. A user interface which allows users to find all the places you have aggregated and to place orders. This, I would also make with web programming languages. HAs got to be flawless.
All in all, this is a rough idea but should give you the gist. Basically, if you are starting a project like this from scratch, you probably have limited funding. If you have limited funding, you should probably start with a web app and use services like phone gap, or appcelerator Titanium (free!) to deploy to mobile.
You would basically need to hire three techies:
1. Back-end programmer who knows: Java, objective C, C++, python, php, .js, json, etc.
2. System Admin who knows: http and httaccess. Server infrastructure and all server-related issues such as CDN and site security.
3. A talented front end developer who knows: html, css, js, query, xml, css, AND graphic design: PS + Illustrator.
Re: Grub Hub .com. Looks like the site is programed primarily with Java Script and libraries like sizzle.js and jQuery, which surprises me because the interface functions as smooth as one's that are built with ruby (github, groupon, living social) and is fast like sites that are built with python (google, youtube) and php (Facebook).
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