Standout New York Restaurants Offer Diners Big Savings With LocalEats Mobile App

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - July 22, 2009) - LocalEats, the iPhone's premier dining guide application, has launched a groundbreaking new feature for restaurant goers in New York. More than 100 of the best restaurants in Manhattan are offering unprecedented mobile savings directly to customers using LocalEats.

Available for the iPhone 3G, the new iPhone 3GS and BlackBerry Storm, users simply pull up the mobile offers on LocalEats -- which range from a percentage off the final bill to free dessert or hors d'oeuvres with purchase -- and present them to their waiters before ordering. Café des Artistes, for example, is offering 10% off the final bill. Many of New York's finest restaurants and foodie favorites have signed on, including The Four Seasons, Daniel, Babbo, Rosa Mexicano and dozens of others across the culinary landscape. A full list of restaurants is available here.

"The LocalEats mobile app lets restaurant owners communicate directly with their customers, offering dining discounts, prix fixe specials and new menu items -- the kind of special offers that cause foodies to change course for their evening out," says Bill King, whose Magellan Press has for a decade published "Where the Locals Eat" dining guides, and who introduced the LocalEats application on the iPhone last year. "The iPhone has revolutionized how people find great restaurants and make reservations, and the LocalEats couponing technology is an extension of that breakthrough."

LocalEats has a commanding presence in the mobile world and has remained near the top of the list of iPhone paid travel apps since its launch last year. It is currently the No. 1 paid dining app and the No. 2 overall paid travel app. LocalEats management credits the "Near Me" feature of the app, which utilizes GPS technology, for generating this growth. In March, more than 21,000 mobile phone users within three miles of Central Park hit "Near Me" to find a restaurant in their vicinity. Two months later, that number jumped to over 87,000.

"As an iPhone user and a chef, I see the great benefits of the LocalEats application," says Terrance Brennan, chef and proprietor of Picholine, Artisanal and Bar Artisanal, the latter two of which have special offers available via LocalEats. "The iPhone community is expanding and so is the reach and appeal of LocalEats. This helps us put the Artisanal and Picholine brands in the hands of diners any time, any where, which is exactly what we want. It's serious diners who are interested in the application and search its database. And we're all about serious diners."

The LocalEats approach to restaurant selections differs greatly from the ubiquitous user-generated rankings found in most online food applications. Instead of an online democracy where all votes are equal, LocalEats values the expert opinions of foodies -- those picky, experienced diners whose stomachs growl loudest. Restaurants featured on LocalEats are hand-picked by a passionate group of discerning researchers and writers, led by a veteran food journalist and a veteran professional cook and caterer. To arrive at top picks, the team tests selections, taps the minds of top food critics, surveys local foodies and pays attention to who's winning local and national awards. LocalEats simply finds the very best restaurants in the city, and the best by neighborhood, too.

The LocalEats iPhone application costs 99 cents to download and updates regularly without charge. LocalEats for the BlackBerry Storm is $2.99. As other companies offer touchscreen phones, LocalEats plans to create compatible applications.

About Magellan Press, Inc.

Magellan Press publishes the "Where the Locals Eat" book series, operates the comprehensive dining website, www.WhereTheLocalsEat.com, and offers the LocalEats™ mobile application for the iPhone and other mobile devices. "Where the Locals Eat" and LocalEats™ feature the best 100 restaurants in the top 50 U.S. cities and also cover hundreds of smaller markets.

For more information visit www.WhereTheLocalsEat.com.

Contact Information: Contact: Ben Palos Seigenthaler Public Relations 615.327.7999 bpalos@seigenthaler.com