Meet the founder: Charlotte banking professional builds grocery app
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Photo: Courtesy of Josh Tipton
Josh Tipton and his family love a list. But after navigating a grocery list via a shared note, the Charlottean knew there had to be a better way to keep track of their pantry. So he created an app.
Why it matters: GroceryGret recently dropped in the Apple App Store. It's intended to help families save money amid high grocery prices, while also keeping track of what's in the fridge or what they need for a recipe.
Context: The Tiptons' shared grocery note started to help alleviate stress that someone would forget something at the grocery store for dinner. Tipton, who works in banking by day, took the note concept and turned it into an app. He started building it over the summer and used 30-40 local testers over the last couple of months.
- Right now, around 10 families are using the app, which launched on Nov. 5.
How it works: The free app brings the whole family together on a single grocery list. It also shows how much your grocery list costs at nearby stores.
- You'll see which person has added items to your list and the person buying groceries will update the list once they're purchased.
- Users can essentially take photos of their fridge, freezer and/or pantry. The app uses AI to learn what your typical full fridge looks like and will reference what you typically have in your fridge and suggest items you may need on your shopping list.
- You can also make a grocery list from a recipe, which Tipton says will come in handy with Thanksgiving coming up.
Between the lines: Prices come from grocery store receipts uploaded by users. He doesn't scrape store websites for prices. Uploading your receipt is optional. Local sales, however, are included using pricing from weekly store emails.
- Tipton hopes the app will help provide an anti-dynamic pricing tool.
- GroceryGret is primarily for North and South Carolina users at present, Tipton says.
The big picture: The app is free for now, but Tipton does plan to add premium features via subscription down the line.
What's next: Tipton expects to roll out the app on the Google Play Store in early 2027.
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