Entrée, a free, new app that helps people decide their next meal by looking through images of appetizing dishes from nearby restaurants, is coming to Austin and is hoping to attract UT students.

The app launched last month in hopes of making the process of choosing new foods quicker and easier. According to the Entrée website, the app has high-quality images that help diners decide what to eat, algorithms that learn people’s food preferences to show them dishes they’ll love and filters dishes by cuisine, restaurant name, price, distance and rating to find the perfect meal. 

“Food apps are usually simple and easy to use so that people don’t get frustrated when trying to look for places to eat,” English junior Adam Beoi, who doesn’t usually use food apps, said.

Danny Tippens, CFO and co-founder of Entrée, said their app is geared toward college students and young professionals who are new to living on their own and struggle with always having to decide where and what to eat, making Entrée a good fit for the UT area.

“The problem most college students face is learning that they have to take care of themselves,” Tippens said. “Entrée is designed to help them expand their palate by trying new foods at restaurants near them.”

The app also provides all the relevant restaurant information including address, phone number, distance and map location. Delivery is also available and although Uber is not available in Austin, the app lets users call one to take them to the restaurant or order delivery. 

English sophomore Abbey Patrick said the app would be very useful for incoming students and people looking to try new foods. 

“This app would help UT students who don’t know any of the nearby restaurants,” Patrick said. “It sounds like it’s very convenient and all students thrive off of convenience.”

Entrée was originally available only in New York and Los Angeles, but is now being launched in Austin some time this week for all UT students to use. 

“Austin is the perfect place to scale our new app,” said Albert Jose, COO and co-founder of Entrée. “It has such a huge food market and also has residents who are passionate about both food and technology and that’s exactly where Entrée needs to be.”