The Vancouver startup trying to fix the chaos of restaurant discovery

Vancouver’s dining scene is world-class—but figuring out where to eat can often feel chaotic. Between Google reviews, TikTok reels, Instagram influencers and “top 10” lists, diners are swimming in opinions but craving trust. A new Vancouver startup thinks it can fix that. 

Launched publicly on November 18 after a beta run across the province, Umamii is a food-tech platform built to make restaurant discovery personal, credible and human again. Founded by former Hootsuite, Bench and Thinkific leaders Craig Ryomoto, Helen Park and Arnold Ryomoto, the app blends AI, community recommendations and hospitality insights to help diners cut through the noise—and to help restaurants reach guests who will actually love what they offer. 

The global dining problem 

For Ryomoto, the idea sparked during a trip to Japan in 2023—it wasn’t a lack of information that frustrated Craig.

“If anything, there was too much,” he recalls. Blogs, review sites, Instagram reels and Google Maps made the search overwhelming. “It reminded me of the Master of None episode where Aziz Ansari spends hours searching for the perfect tacos only to end up disappointed. That feeling is universal.” 

The same fatigue followed him through Paris, London and New York and eventually back to Vancouver. After surveying more than 100 friends and speaking with users across B.C., he realized the problem wasn’t access to information. It was the inability to trust and filter it. 

“The best dining experiences come from trusted voices and niche review sources, not crowded lists or mass review platforms,” he says.  

How Umamii works 

Unlike Yelp, Google or OpenTable, Umamii’s core premise is that people trust people, not anonymous crowds. The platform learns who you trust: friends with similar tastes, chefs you admire, respected food writers or earned-credibility sources like the Michelin Guide, Vancouver Magazine and Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants. 

This is where Umamii’s personalization engine kicks in. The recommendations that appear on your screen will not be the same as someone else’s.  “Two people searching for sushi in the same neighbourhood will get different results because their preferences and trusted networks are different,” Ryomoto explains. Instead of highlighting only what’s trending, Umamii is designed to surface multicultural, neighbourhood and family-run restaurants—places that rarely break through algorithm-driven platforms. 

Where the platform gets particularly interesting is how it merges artificial intelligence with the nuances of restaurant culture—AI handles the speed and conversation. The community provides trust. Hospitality fills in the real-world details. “The AI Chat uses everything it knows about you to have a natural, conversational dialogue about where to eat next,” Craig says. Ask the platform: Where should I take my vegetarian friend for a casual dinner? The recommendation will be shaped by your preferences, your trusted sources and your community’s go-to spots. Umamii also includes data most platforms ignore: child-friendliness, gluten-free options, patio availability, noise level, whether the restaurant just opened and the dozens of situational details that actually shape a real dining decision. 

Rooted in hospitality, driven by tech

The founding team’s backgrounds reveal a blend of big-tech discipline and small-restaurant values. Ryomoto spent years at Hootsuite, Bench and Thinkific—three of Canada’s best-known SaaS companies. “One lesson that shaped Umamii more than anything was the importance of building products that solve a real, painful problem for a specific user,” he notes. “You cannot rely on instinct alone. You have to understand the problem better than anyone else and let that guide every decision.” At the same time, the founder grew up in a family with deep hospitality roots. That blend— scalable tech paired with restaurant sensibilities—is baked into the platform. It’s also one reason Umamii doesn’t rely on an ad-driven model, push discounts, or amplify only viral spots. Its goal is to match diners and restaurants based on fit, taste and intention, not on paid placement. 

Changing up the food discovery platform menu 

Since launching its beta, Umamii has curated a database of more than 5,000 restaurants, drawing from verified sources like the Michelin Guide and Vancouver Magazine. The platform already has over 2,000 early users and waitlisted members across B.C. and Ontario. 

One early behaviour surprised the team: the way people still share restaurant lists like it’s 2012. “The default behaviour is to text a list of favourites or send a Google Doc,” Ryomoto says. “It’s human, but it isn’t scalable—and once you send that list, it becomes static.” Users kept saying they wanted a better way to store and share favourites, neighbourhood gems and must-visit spots. The insight is now shaping Umamii’s roadmap. The platform is building dynamic, living lists that update automatically as your tastes evolve. Eventually, users will be able to share their lists publicly or within trusted circles. 

“Umamii is turning that old-fashioned behaviour into something modern, collaborative, and built for how people actually share food recommendations today,” Ryomoto adds.