Bon'App, Inc. is a social enterprise in Cambridge, Massachusetts founded by Laurent Adamowicz, a 2011 Senior Fellow of the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University. Bon'App is an open platform that includes applications for Apple mobile devices, Android phones, and a website. The Bon'App application is type- and voice-powered, instantly telling users what is in their food with a simple language of calories, sugar, salt, and "bad fat". With the official lifting of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's ban on general solicitation on Sept. 23, 2013, Bon'App has officially begun raising capital by offering securities to accredited investors on crowd-funding platform Fundable. In 2014, Bon' App launched a Campus Ambassador Program across the nation to get college students involved with enacting significant food changes on campuses.
The Company
Bon'App, Inc. has grown to a team of full-time and part-time employees. In 2011, 65 data input associates, recruited mostly at MIT, Boston University, and Harvard University started inputting restaurant data, menu items, and ingredients, to build the Bon’App proprietary database. In September 2011, Bon'App moved to the incubator Harvard innovation lab on the Harvard Business School campus; and since August 2012, the team is part of Healthbox, an accelerator based at Kendall-MIT in Cambridge. The Bon'App board of advisors includes:
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, Chair and Director of the Advanced Leadership Initiative of Harvard University.
Dr. George L. Blackburn, the S. Daniel Abraham Associate Professor of Nutrition and Associate Director of the Division of Nutrition at Harvard Medical School; Chief of the Nutritional/Metabolism Laboratory, Director of the Center for the Study of Nutrition Medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Bon'App, Inc. is a C corporation that was incorporated in Delaware on May 15, 2010. The concept of Bon'App emerged in 2009 when Laurent Adamowicz, a serial entrepreneur and former food industry executive, dreamed of a "food-sniffing phone" while writing a thesis on the socio-cultural anthropology of food at Columbia University in New York City. The app's first release came out as a pilot at the end of October 2011. The 5th release of the beta version on iTunes came out in March 2012. Version 2.0 of the Android and iOS app was released on May 4 and June 11, 2012, respectively. This version is redesigned with a simpler and more powerful search function. In 2012, Bon'App was ranked as one of best weightloss apps of 2012 by Healthline. Bon'App was also featured on WGBH as a high-tech health app for dieting. In August 2013, Heather Bauer named Bon'App one of the top three fitness apps.
Research
Bon’App has been working with researchers at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, LA to help fight teen obesity. A clinical study was realized in two public schools with students using tablets to input their daily food intake. Bon'App was able to monitor food behavior to make healthy eating recommendations. In reference to Bon'App's Project to Help Fight Teen Obesity The Advocate says, "Pennington Biomedical Research Center will work with a Boston startup on a project that could, help prevent and reduce obesity among teens in low-income neighborhoods." Dr. Stacey Bell, a Registered Dietitian and an expert nutrition consultant, says, "We believe that giving teens and young adults the resources to start thinking about nutrition is an important step in the right direction."
