In the summer of 2014, two friends in Augusta, Georgia, were looking to grab a bite. A thought came to mind — what restaurants are safe to eat at?
The friends, Chris Peoples and Jake Van Dyke, developed an idea that combined their thought with their skills set: app development.
“We just decided to make the information available in one place,” Peoples told The Dispatch this week.
They developed an app called, “What the Health,” which gives the locations and health inspection grades of all local restaurants. The app, which launched in Georgia in September 2014, released a Mississippi edition at the end of January. It can be downloaded for free by iPhone and Android users.
The app is able to pull up the 100 nearest establishments to a user’s phone and show inspection results from the Mississippi State Department of Health. Users can see the restaurant’s grade from the health department, read the most recent report filed on the restaurant and get directions — if they still want to go there.
Mississippi restaurants are graded A, B, C or U (unacceptable). The grading scale is the same as it would be academically: an A is in the 90s; a B in the 80s; a C in the 70s; and U, simply put, is best avoided.
Peoples said some grades are misleading, and that it can be easy to lose points on minor violations such as broken light bulbs or failing to date food.
“We always tell consumers to not entirely base opinions on grades,” Peoples said. “This gives them a better risk assessment for the decision they are making.”
The app has picked up many consumers since launching in September. Peoples said “What the Health” has versions in 10 states and the District of Columbia. More than 60,000 users have downloaded it. The app updates its inspection information three times a week, so as soon as health inspections are made public, the app is up-to-date.
“What the Health” is off to a slow start in Mississippi. Peoples said around 300 Android and 700 iPhone users have downloaded the app statewide, most near the Louisiana border. Louisiana, Peoples said, has been a very successful market for them.
The goal of the app is not to discourage business at restaurants, Peoples said, but rather makes public information easier to access. Still, some stores with poor reviews have spoken ill of the app.
Some states are a bit cleaner than others. Peoples said Washington, D.C., and Florida were the two areas with the worst ratings.
Columbus residents can breathe easy. None of the 100 closest restaurants to The Dispatch newsroom scored lower than a B.
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