A new free mobile application and website, GoPure, beta launched this week, helping users find, share, and learn about healthy and sustainable dining options. The app, currently for iPhone and Android, provides information on the food sourcing and environmentally sensitive choices of restaurants, helping people make decisions based on eating preferences such as organic and locally sourced food, gluten-free or vegan options and the efficient use of natural resources.
While the initial launch includes data on dining establishments in the San Francisco Bay Area, the app is designed to encourage users to suggest and add information on their favorite eateries regardless of location. The GoPure team expects to add thousands more restaurants nationwide in the coming months, and is already building new content in Los Angeles, New York City and Portland, Ore.
According to a National Restaurant Association report, more than half of adults say they are more likely to visit restaurants that offer food grown in an organic or environmentally friendly way, and seven in 10 are more likely to visit restaurants that offer locally-produced food.
"Our goal is to make it easy for you to choose healthy, sustainably-sourced food wherever you go. By supporting restaurants who go above and beyond to offer the highest quality ingredients, you are voting for the health of people and our planet and contributing to the major transformation occurring in our food system," said Brendan Murphy, GoPure founder and CEO.
The GoPure app equips diners with simple tools to help grow the sustainable restaurant network. The app's interactive features allow users to:
- Add "discoveries," sharing their knowledge of a restaurant's sustainability.
- "Nudge" restaurants to reveal their pure practices and
- "Suggest" businesses that are not yet listed.
After a restaurant completes their profile, they are assigned a purity index ranking according to 45 food sustainability standards and a unique algorithm developed in conjunction with sustainable business leader Paul Hawken.
Additionally, invitations to download the app generate donations to nonprofit Food Corps to support healthy food in schools. Posting "discoveries" also generates donations for key players in the food movement working with GoPure such as Slow Food USA and Organic Consumers Association.
Restaurants can create a free profile on GoPure. Registration also allows for restaurants to purchase a sustainability report providing tips on how to improve their purity score. Additionally, GoPure is working to link restaurants with suppliers of sustainable products and services.
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