Frequently Asked Questions

What is Lunchwalla?

Lunchwalla is a website and social platform for the everyday planning of events, such as breakfast, lunch, dinner and drinks. Putting the "social" back into social networking, Lunchwalla combines the best of online invitations, establishment reviews, local coupons and reservations to help plan events centered on food, drinks and good times in a fun and interactive way.

Where did you get the name Lunchwalla?

Once upon a time a group of office executives pondered the most important business decision of everyday. What's for lunch? They wanted to invite their friends and colleagues, so they made calls, sent texts and drafted emails in an effort to coordinate places and times. This inevitably proved to be the most difficult decision to agree upon and organize. A well-traveled member of the group had a moment of inspiration, recalling the magical dabbawalla from his visits to India. The dabbawalla or "lunchbox men" of India have been delivering hundreds of thousands of lunches daily with amazing efficiency and innovation for over a century. With this thought they pondered how the dabbawalla could be implemented into the modern business lunches of today across the globe and Lunchwalla was born.

Can Lunchwalla be used for other things, not just lunch?

Of course! While the original concept was born out of the decision of where to go for lunch, Lunchwalla can be used to plan any type of social event. You can plan a party at your house, at the office, or at the park as long as you know the address.

When was Lunchwalla founded?

2009 (officially launched March 1, 2010)

How does Lunchwalla differ from other services like Evite, Open Table, Yelp?

Lunchwalla combines all the best of Evite, Open Table and Yelp into one service with our own unique features, like voting. Unlike Evite, Lunchwalla is used for everyday social planning rather than just for big events and Lunchwalla lets invitees be heard through the custom voting function. Lunchwalla users can also access Yelp reviews and make Open Table reservations right from the Lunchwalla site. It's really a one-stop shop for planning fun.

Lunchwalla eliminates email chains, costly text messages or back-and-forth phone calls - it is the quickest and easiest way to get a group together.

Lunchwalla is also for social networking; unlike Evite, Open Table and Yelp, Lunchwalla users can post comments on their friends' pages, upload photos and send messages, in addition to the invitations. We are also different from other social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace because we actually put the social back into social networking by helping people schedule face time with each other.

Is it free to use Lunchwalla?

Yes.

Who should use Lunchwalla?

Anyone who spends time coordinating events centered on food and drinks - women, men, professionals, teenagers, foodies, moms and road warriors, for example.

I just found the Lunchwalla Website, what do I do now?

Users can register for free and create a Lunchwalla profile by visiting Lunchwalla.com or through their existing Facebook accounts. From there, they can start inviting friends, coworkers and family to events by sending invitations. Invitees then vote on where they want to go.

To make it easier, we let users simply import contacts from Yahoo! Mail, AOL Mail, Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, MSN Hotmail or manually enter the information.

In addition, users can even post comments on friends' Lunchwalla profiles, send messages and post photos.

What is Facebook Connect?

Facebook Connect is a tool that Facebook provides that allows its users to authorize websites like Lunchwalla to integrate with your Facebook account. This allows Lunchwalla to offer features such as unified login, post to your Facebook wall, and invite your Facebook Contacts to join Lunchwalla.

When I am trying to create my account, the drop down for the birthdate is empty. How can I create my account?

The cause of this issue is that the JavaScript that is used to generate those drop down lists is being blocked. The only way around this currently, is to use Facebook Connect if you have a Facebook account. However, it should be noted that if the JavaScript for that drop down is being blocked, there are probably a lot of other issues that you will encounter within the Lunchwalla site.

I am trying to plan an event at a restaurant, however, I can't find it using the search tools. Can I add the restaurant by hand?

Yes. On the Places page, there is a form called "Add my own" that allows you to enter the Name, Address and phone number (if you know it) of any location. This is also useful for planning events at non-restaurant locations such as a house or a business.

I don't know the email address for a person I want to invite. Can I still invite them?

Lunchwalla relies heavily on email address for many of its functions. Unfortunately, if you do not know the person's email address, there is no way to enter them as a contact. However, we provide a number of tools to help you enter contacts including an address import tool as well as the ability to send invites to join to your Facebook friends if you have a Facebook account.

My location is incorrect. How do I update my location?

To update your location or add additional locations such as your home, office, etc., click on the Profile icon. On your profile page, there is a link to "Edit My Profile". Click that link. On the following page, there is a "My Locations" tab. Click that tab. This is where you enter/edit your location information. To edit a location, click on the Pencil icon next to the location. To enter a new location, enter the location in the box labled "New Location" under the map. Click Locate, then click the Save Location button. Lunchwalla initially tries to guess your current location, however, this is not always acurate. It is best to be as specific as possible when entering a location. Include Street address, town, state and zip if possible. This will give you the best results when searching for places near that location.