Foodini: Building the Dietary Intelligence Layer for the Restaurant Industry

Foodini addresses the urgent need for allergen compliance and dietary intelligence in the U.S. restaurant sector, driven by a wave of new regulations such as California SB‑68 that will take effect July 2026 and similar laws in New York, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, and Missouri. The company’s platform delivers compliance‑grade ingredient data verified by registered dietitians and powered by its proprietary AI engine, AINGEL, which ingests menus from PDFs to images and classifies over 450 000 products with high accuracy. Beyond compliance, Foodini’s data unlocks commercial value: diners with dietary restrictions are twice as loyal, menu items with clear ingredient descriptions receive four times more views, and tagged items generate 3.6× higher engagement.

The solution has already attracted high‑profile clients, including Jersey Mike’s, Marriott Hotels, and the José Andrés Group, and it powers allergen‑filtered ordering at Major League Baseball’s Oriole Park through a partnership with Levy. Platform metrics show 300 000+ consumers, 150+ allergens tracked, a 98.9% guest preference rate, and a 60% reduction in staff allergen queries, with zero reported incidents among live partners. Foodini’s founding team blends compliance expertise (CEO Dylan McDonnell, a lifelong celiac) with sales and technology experience (COO Erica Anderman, CTO Kent Bolton), supported by an advisory board of industry veterans.

With seed funding secured in April 2026, Foodini is scaling its national compliance rollout and exploring insurance distribution partnerships and licensing of its ingredient‑level data to delivery and hospitality platforms. The long‑term vision positions Foodini as the national source of truth for dietary intelligence across restaurants, venues, hotels, travel, healthcare, education, and consumer packaged goods.