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What the Health is an app that allows diners to search for restaurant health inspection information by state. According to WWL, the app is location-based and brings up "the first 100 restaurants around you based on your GPS location." Co-founder Jake Van Dyke tells Eater that the company developed the app because they "found it hard or cumbersome to get the health inspection information for restaurants." Counties and cities release the information on their websites, but not in a convenient or easily digestible format.
What the Health sources its data directly from health department websites, and for the states that do not assign scores but only show violations, the company assigns a grade too. The apps do not crowd source information, but all together have some 20,000 users.
What's most unique about What the Health is that its data is separated into city-specific apps. Van Dyke explains that this is because each state reports health inspection data differently, therefore each app is tailored to each state's data. Currently the company has apps for Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, Virginia, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C. Developers at What the Health are currently working on a prototype for New York state.
What the Health may soon face some stiff competition from restaurant review site Yelp. The company announced earlier this month that it is partnering with a social data discovery site that works with governments to publish restaurant inspection information. They plan to integrate restaurant inspection info in an easy-to-read format. Check out a video about What the Health below:
