Request an oyster shucker like a ride: building RIFCOS
Michael Edelstein · Founder & Lead Developer
· 1 min read
The short answer
RIFCOS sends professional oyster shuckers to parties across New York City. Here is the technology behind it, from its CTO.
RIFCOS brings a professional oyster shucker to your party. You pick the where and when, and the shucker shows up with the oysters, ice, sauces and a raw bar setup, then cleans up after. Its promise is simple: request a shucker like you'd request a ride. I am RIFCOS's CTO.
What a customer sees
Booking takes a few taps on iOS or on rifcos.com. Customers see the exact price before they request, then track their shucker live, chat with them, and change or rebook the event from the app.
What runs behind it
- A customer app and a shucker app, built from one codebase for iOS and Android.
- Live dispatch: each request goes out to shuckers, and the booking is set the moment one accepts.
- Payments that hold the card when a shucker accepts and charge it after the event.
- An ops dashboard at ops.rifcos.com with every booking, payouts, chat and an audit log.
The hard part of a marketplace
A two-sided marketplace has to work for both sides at once. Customers want a clear price and a shucker they can count on. Shuckers want clear jobs and fast pay. The ops team needs to see everything and fix anything without calling a developer. Most of my work as CTO is keeping all three in step, so a party in Brooklyn goes off without anyone thinking about the software behind it.
RIFCOS is built with React Native, Next.js, Firebase, Stripe and Twilio.
Questions people ask
What is RIFCOS?
RIFCOS (rifcos.com) is an on-demand service that sends professional oyster shuckers to private events in New York City, booked in an app or on the web.
What is Michael Edelstein's role at RIFCOS?
Michael is RIFCOS's CTO. He leads its technology: the customer and shucker apps, the website, live dispatch, payments and the ops dashboard.
Written by Michael Edelstein
Founder of Edelstein Consulting. We build websites, custom software and AI search visibility for small businesses and founders. See what we do →
