Gluten Dude App: Major upgrades and lower prices!

Big things happening at team Gluten Dude and our mobile app that I’d like to share with you. We’ve added some awesome benefits and dropped the price!

First, let’s take a step back. A few months ago, I sent out an email to everyone who downloaded the Gluten Dude app, but did not subscribe after the 7-day free trial. I asked for their honest feedback as to why they did not subscribe. The three main answers were:

1. There are no restaurants in my area on the app.
2. I have no idea when a restaurant in my area has been added to the app.
3. I really want it, but it’s not in my budget right now.

I get it. These are extremely valid issues that we needed to address. Well…I’m happy to announce that with our latest app release, we have tackled all three of these. Let’s start with the first one.

“There are no restaurants in my area on the app”

When I first had the concept of this app, it was going include only 100% gluten-free restaurants. After months of scouring the globe for all of the GF restaurants I could find, there were sadly less than 900 of them. This simply would not provide enough value to the gluten-free community. So I decided to add a second category of restaurants called Dude Vetted. These would be restaurants that are not 100% gluten-free, but:

• They were suggested by someone in the celiac/GF community.
• They responded to our email where we asked them what precautions they take to minimize the risk of cross-contamination and;
• They understood the seriousness of “gluten-free” and do indeed have some precautions in place.

Then on each restaurant listing, we added a “Dude Vetting Note” explaining what the restaurant said. This allowed us to add a lot more restaurants and to this day, we have vetted thousands of restaurants around the world.

But there was a problem. Over a third of the restaurants do not respond to our vetting emails. Is it because they do not see the email? Or they see it and forget to respond? Or don’t respond for some other reason? We have no idea of knowing.

So I put on my Dude Thinking Cap and decided it would serve everyone’s interest if we added a third category of restaurants. And this category is now on the latest version of the app and is called User Suggested. These would be restaurants that are not 100% gluten-free, but:

• They were suggested by someone in the celiac/GF community.
• They did not respond to our vetting emails.
• We looked for reviews that included the words “celiac” or “gluten” and the great majority of these reviews were positive.

And for these restaurants, we added a handful of these reviews on the app. This new category has allowed us to add over 1,000 restaurants with this latest release and will enable us to add many more on a daily basis.

So the app now has 3 restaurant categories: 100% GF, Dude Vetted and User Suggested. We label each restaurant and make it easy to filter by category.

    

Now let’s talk about the second important issue…

“I have no idea when a restaurant in my area has been added to the app”

Our solution? App Notifications. Here how it’s going to work: On your app profile, you will have the option of leaving your zip code. When a new restaurant is added to the app that is within X miles (you choose the distance), you will get a popup notification with a link to that restaurant’s listing on the app. I personally love this new feature.

    

And finally let’s talk about the third important issue…

“I really want it, but it’s not in my budget right now”

The goal of the Gluten Dude app has always been to help the most people possible at a price that was reasonable. But that raises the important question: What is reasonable? If you ask 10 different people, you may get 10 different answers. I may think that $49.99/yr is reasonable for all the app has to offer and all that it will offer in the future. But it doesn’t matter what I think. All that matters is what YOU think.

If I could be honest with you (and when aren’t I?!), I messed up when I launched the app. There were less than two thousand restaurants on the app, there were no coupons yet, and the content needed to be built out. I should have priced it lower than I did to get it in more people’s hands. Lord knows having celiac disease can be expensive enough. And while I can’t do anything to change the past, I can do something to change the present.

We are lowering the price of the app!

A monthly subscription will remain at $5.99.

But a six month subscription, which was $29.99, is now $24.99, for a saving of 24%.

And here’s the biggie. A yearly subscription was $49.99. It is now $39.99! That is equal to only $3.33/month; a 44% saving from the monthly plan.

And for this price, you will be able to:

• Eat with less stress.
• Get notified when a restaurant in your area gets added to the app.
• Filter restaurants by your comfort level eating out.
• Save money on over 50 gluten-free brands.
• Find gluten-free options are airports around the world.
• Discover gluten-free vacations, hotels, arenas, and more.
• Locate gluten-free beer at over 17,000 locations around the world.

All for as low as 11¢/day. Current and new subscribers will get these prices automatically. If you already had a free trial but did not subscribe and want to check out the new features before subscribing, we are temporarily providing new 7 day free trials to those who request it. Just send an email to support@glutendude.app with the subject “New Free Trial Please” and we’ll set you up with a new free trial within 48 hours. If you signed up with an Apple ID, let us know your private Apple ID email address in the body of the email so we can reset the correct account.

With all of this being said, my team and I are extremely excited for this new stage of the app to reach your hands. We know that these changes are going to benefit the community and make the app more accessible. Thanks to everyone who has supported Gluten Dude in any capacity. Let a new chapter begin!

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