Young Bay Area Diners Are Trading Yelp For This New Foodie App: Report

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Beli, a new-ish foodie app, is starting to give 20-year-old Yelp a run for its money, especially in the Bay Area.

Popular among Gen Z and Millennials, Beli users have left 3.6 million restaurant reviews in the Bay Area, Chief Technology Officer Eliot Frost told the San Francisco Chronicle.

The main difference between Yelp and Beli is that Beli users only see reviews from their friends, while Yelp shows reviews from strangers.

But for top users like Zo Mendez, others can see his reviews on the app-wide leaderboard.

Mendez has become one of the most powerful food influencers in San Francisco, but only by one measure: his stature on Beli, the Chronicle reported.

Mendez, who most recently ranked San Francisco restaurant Jules with an 8.2 out of 10, is the city's top user.

Gerad Gobel of Rose Pizzeria, which is ranked high by Mendez, says he doesn't know if the app has brought a huge influx of business.

“I don’t know when we started getting reviewed on Beli, but I would say, in the past four or five months, you can definitely tell we’re getting a more 20-something crowd,” Gobel told the Chronicle.

The app calculates ratings by asking a series of comparative questions to other restaurants a user has dined at.

Beli already boasts 70 million restaurant ratings around the world, more than Yelp, Frost told the newspaper.

Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle:A new restaurant rating app is luring young Bay Area diners away from Yelp