New York City, the vast, metropolitan expanse of concrete and steel that houses over 8 million inhabitants, sustains an immensely unique and multi-faceted culture. Mobile food vendors pervade this city, ingraining themselves deeply in the lives and routines of hungry New Yorkers. They populate centers of traffic on NY's busiest street corners, because that's how owners earn their money. Vending everything from lobsters to waffles to pastries, these vendors are an important and burgeoning part of our culture.Â
The Problem:
1. Mobile food vendors can be hard to find. How do you know which corner has Halal food, which has a coffee cart, and which has fruit?
2. The average cart owner pays $433/year in health violations. But consumers have no way of knowing which carts have top-notch, healthy foods and which do not!
3. Cart owners have no incentive to provide reliable, consistent service because there is no accountability mechanism to keep them in check.Â
The Cartwheels Solution:
1. We provide New Yorkers with instant maps of nearby carts differentiated by the products they sell throughout web and mobile applications.Â
2. We allow consumers to rate and review food carts as well as report health violations on our applications - talk about accountability!
3. We facilitate communication between cart owners and consumers, allowing cart owners to update their online menus, advertise their carts, and offer special offers and consumer loyalty programs. Not only do we increase accountability, but we improve the customer experience in the mobile food vending space.Â
Cartwheels helps New Yorkers
1. There's no more hassle! Now, citi-goers can find food vendors near them with a click of a button.Â
2. Consumers get to buy healthier, tastier food from the carts they enjoy mostly by reading cart reviews.Â
3. Consumers can subscribe to carts, receive special offers, and participate in consumer loyalty programs.Â
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Cartwheels helps Small Businesses
1. By driving traffic to food vendors, Cartwheels helps these small businesses generate revenue.Â
2. By facilitating communication between cart owners and consumers, we increase revenues for carts. Owners can purchase premium ads on our site and attract a recurring customer base through consumer loyalty programs.Â
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Cartwheels helps NYC:
Our user review system will create greater accountability for food quality and cleanliness among food vendors.
About Us:
1. Named the #1 best high school app by the MIT Media LabÂ
2. Named the #2 best new app idea globally by the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).Â
3. Endorsed by NYC Venture Capitalist Fred Wilson and staff at CBS Local.
4. Featured in YahooNews, MarketWatch, NBC, and Fox. Â
Visit our website!
Test our iOS app!
Benjamin Attal
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Last year, Ben became frustrated. He loved chicken-on-rice but never knew when and where to find his favorite food truck. He realized that if he created an app to find, rate, and review food carts, he could help New Yorkers and help small businesses - the cart owners. Soon, Cartwheels was born.Â
As our head developer, Ben oversees web and mobile app development. Always an altruist, his priorities are to design an easy to use user interface and help cart owners.
When he's not coding, Ben is an avid ultimate Frisbee player.
Ben is pursuing a degree in Computer Science from Brown University.
Jack Cahn
Co-Founder and President
Jack is a builder, creator, and innovator.
At 10, Jack launched his first business buying and selling Wiis on EBay. By 15, he launched his second, Guerrilla Joe, an outdoor advertising vendor that specializes in selling ads on food carts, and brought in clients including TD Bank and Bed, Bath, & Beyond.
As our food cart guru and business lead, Jack is responsible for coordinating Carthweels' corporate strategy. He is responsible for coordinating marketing, advertising, business development, public relations, and fundraising operations. Most importantly, Jack is responsible for shaping our plans for expansion.
Wearing his PR hat, Jack was the National Director of Public Relations for the Junior State of America where he managed a 50-person department and boosted social media publicity by 700%. We know that Jack's PR/Marketing background will enable us to successfully get our app in front of New York's millions of citi- goers.
Jack is currently pursuing a dual- degree in Finance and Computer Science from the Wharton School of Business and Penn Engineering.
David Cahn
Chief Financial Officer
David is an energetic go-getter whose financial skills are un-paralleled. David began his financial career at the Tiedemann Investment Group. Later, he accepted an offer to work for Branford Castle Private Equity. After leaving Castle, David worked for Lynx Financial, a cross-border investment bank where he specialized in sell-side M&A in the healthcare sector.Â
David's expertise extends far beyond finance - his business mind has made him one of New York's most well-regarded young entrepreneurs. In the past few years, he won 1st Place in the Junior Achievement Business Competition, Rensellear Polytechnic Institute Business Competition, Global Enterprise Challenge (17 countries), and New York State Economics Challenge (with a perfect score). Last year, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) named David the Global Best High School Innovator.
As our Chief Financial Officer, David’s primary role is to raise money for our upcoming launch in the fall of 2014.
When he's not cooking up revenue models for Cartwheels, David is an avid scientist. He was an Intel semi-finalist and won first place in the New York City Science and Engineering Fair for his schizophrenia research. As the Editor-In-Chief of The Spectator, David managed a 150+ person staff and published bi-weekly 30+ page papers.Â
David is currently pursuing a dual- degree in Finance and Computer Science from the Wharton School of Business and Penn Engineering.
Will Field-Thompson
iOS Lead Developer
Will started off his development career working on iOS mobile applications (including Votes and Spectro). He moved on to build apps in the web development space, but finally returned to his field of expertise.
As our lead iOS developer, Will is responsible for designing and programming the "Cartwheels" iOS app.
Will is pursuing a degree in Computer Science from the Univesity of Chicago.
Eric Chen
Android Lead Developer
Eric started off his development career coding games for Android devices and has learned an array of different programming languages. He is the founder of "Sea-Urchin", a buying and selling group targeting students.Â
Eric is also a competitve runne: he is the captain of Stuyvesant Cross Country and Track team and has also been recognized as the 3rd fastest distance runner in New York City.Â
As our lead Android developer, Eric is responsible for designing and programming our Android app.
Eric will be studying Computer Science at Stuyvesant next fall.
Reda Lamniji
Content Expert
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Reda is our expert on NYC's mobile food vendors. He travels to carts throughout the city, talks to cart owners, conducts market research, and raises interest in Cartwheels among these vendors. The only thing more impressive than Reda's work ethic during the year is Reda's work ethic during the summertime; he works around the clock in the scortching heat while fasting for Ramadan! Â
Reda has been in contact with the NYC Food Truck Association and has reached out to many prominent trucks and carts all over the city.
Reda will be studying Computer Science at Stuyvesant next fall.Â
Justin Duda
Advisor
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Justin is a creative critical thinker. A chess player and computer scientist, Justin was brought on to help the Cartwheels team raise capital, map carts, and coordinate social media. Justin will be a studying computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign next fall.Â
Joseph Chong
Graphic Designer
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Joseph Chong is a freelance designer. In the past he has done design work for: SME Branding, Red Penguin Web Design, CUNY Division III Sporting Events, and Blue State Digital.
