Friday, May 16, 2008

Zeer unites food fans on its new site

By Christopher Calnan

Online social networking has already become part of everything from pet care to fitness. Now a Cambridge company has started an online community for foodies.

Last week, Zeer Inc. launched a beta version of zeer.com, which offers users an opportunity to review foods and brands as well as establish online groups based on specific topics, such as, say, “gluten-free cooking.”

The company, which was founded last year, has attracted $1 million in funding from a syndicate of 10 angel investors. Later this year, Zeer plans to seek $5 million in venture capital to develop its product and its marketing plan, CEO Michael Putnam said.

The website generates revenue through Google advertisements, he said.

The discussion groups, coupled with user-generated product reviews, are similar to those found on websites such as Hotels.com, or CarGurus.com, which was launched by a Cambridge company in 2006.

Putnam was previously the director of e-commerce for the Markem Corp., a Keene, N.H.-based producer of nutritional label printing machines. Before that, he was an e-commerce analyst for Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge.

In February, Zeer launched a test version of the website for 120 users. Putnam said Zeer developers made 500 changes to the website during that testing period.

To date, users have created 26 Zeer groups, Putnam said. “It’s all about serving people’s specific interests,” he said.

The goal of such websites is to generate enough traffic to attract sponsors who would benefit from the exposure.

“The challenge is not getting people there once, but getting them to participate on a long-term basis,” said Matthew Lees, vice president of the Patricia Seybold Group, a Boston-based consulting firm.