Swipe left. Swipe right. For those growing up in the digital dating age and using the love connection app Tinder to find potential mates, these commands have become universal symbols for disapproval and appeal.
Tender’s founders are Class of 2012 alumni, (left to right) David Blumenfeld, Necco Ceresani and Jordan Homan.
Using the swipe model popularized by Tinder, three 2012 College of Charleston graduates – David Blumenfeld, Necco Ceresani and Jordan Homan – have developed a new app that matches tech-savvy cooks with a wealth of recipes. It’s simple: Swipe left to dismiss a recipe or swipe right to save it to your cookbook.
Tender appears to be capitalizing on the cooking behaviors of Millennials, who, according to a recent study by Google, are more likely to cook with the assistance of their phones than with printed recipes. The app is gaining attention, and was recently highlighted by the Today Show.
Tender pulls recipes from Internet blogs to create its database. The suggested recipes can vary from pigeon breast with red wine gravy to vegetarian buffalo cauliflower dip.
It was a shared love of food and cooking that first brought the Tender trio together during freshman year at CofC. Their culinary concoctions ranged from the ever-humble Ramen noodles to Ceresani’s favorite, shepherd’s pie.
Tender works like the dating app Tinder, but for food.
After graduation, the alumni found themselves in Boston working at software companies. Ceresani, who majored in international business and previously worked in Charleston restaurants including FIG and Hall’s Chophouse, first suggested the idea for a cooking app.
After hunkering down during the recent harsh winter, they emerged with Tender, which hit the App Store last week and quickly amassed over two million swipes!
Prior to Tender, all of the alums had dabbled in entrepreneurial ventures: While at the College majoring in computer science, Homan developed a few game apps that were available in the app store, Blumenfeld started a college-focused online media company called The Campus Companion with his brother Jon Blumenfeld ‘10, and Ceresani has worked in modeling and also co-anchored a TV news project focused on entrepreneurship and business.
The trio’s academic experiences at the College provided an excellent foundation for their latest entrepreneurial foray, says Blumenfeld, who majored in international business.
“CofC definitely prepared us for the world of business, development and entrepreneurship by teaching us to execute and obviously giving us an invaluable educational foundation from which to continue building and learning.”
