By Lori Fredrich Senior Food Writer, Dining Editor, Podcast Host Published Jun 12, 2013 at 11:04 AM

According to Merriam Webster, "mosey" means to move in a leisurely or aimless manner: saunter.

According to Mosey.com, it's the perfect way to respond to the question "Hey, I'm going to be in your town. What should I do?"

Hop on Mosey.com and you’ll find a series of artful mix tapes depicting personal experiences in cities all over the world.

Launched on April 18, Mosey already contains over 1,200 Moseys depicting user experiences in 35 countries and 295 cities. And the site is growing every day.

At its heart, Mosey is a user-generated site that allows you to browse ready-made itineraries,  walking tours, and lists of favorite places. It’s also a spot where you can curate your own meanderings, creating a ready-made memory book or list of recommendations for others.

Mosey CEO Eric Persha is a Wisconsin native who was born in Mayville, attended UWM and headed out west to pursue a career in digital strategy. While getting his MBA in Design Strategy from California College of the Arts in San Francisco, Calif., Persha met the creative team with which he would partner to create Mosey.com.

The creative team’s collective resume is impressive, to say the least. Brand marketing lead, Matthew Lloyd, is the former VP of brand experience for Old Navy and Method Products, while product designer and strategist, Andrew Deming, was previously a design partner at fuseproject.

Others include Steff Eiter of Gilmour Craves, Audrey Ma from Walt Disney Company, Jason Moore a professional with over eight years of backend experience, including a tenure at ibliblio.org, and Talia Pines, "former campaign manager and multitasker extraordinaire."

Although he’s careful not to take too much credit for the concept, which he says he owes to every member of the team, Persha tells me that the idea sprang to mind as he sat with his wife Anna one day at brunch.

"Did you ever read the choose your own adventure books?" he asked her. "Wouldn’t it be cool if we could create those for people?"

He threw the idea out to his team, and the idea evolved from there.

Persha was intrigued by the engagement the books created based on mood, personality and risk tolerance on the part of the reader. Mosey, he says, is based on those same principles.

 "The user experience is extremely important to us," says Persha. "The fact that Mosey is a simple concept, and we’re tackling a very specific scenario around creating an experience in your neighborhood – the act that you can connect places over time – isn’t something that others do, or they don’t do it very well."

Persha also emphasizes that, at its heart, Mosey is about people, and the mission of the company reflect that orientation.

"When you look at sites like Yelp, the place is at the center. We want to put the person at the center. Mosey is about experiences -- how places connect in the context of time and geography."

According to Persha, Mosey is essentially a grand collection of day trips, with each Mosey functioning as a representation of "the best four hours in your city."

"There are over 13 million day trips taken annually in the U.S. alone," explains Persha. "People spend a lot of money on those day trips. The difference with Mosey is that it’s not money spent on hotels, flights, and rental cars where the travel industry makes its money – it’s money spent in the experience."

It’s not the first site ever created which allows individuals to share their travel tips, of course, but Mosey is uniquely compelling, attractive and infinitely useful. Based on the concept of social networking, the site pulls together the best of Pinterest, Facebook and Trip Advisor.

In the works is a native app for the currently mobile-friendly Mosey.com as well as an API so that blogger can embed their Moseys into blog posts or onto their web sites.

"Our dream is for you to be able to hop on Mosey and find ‘your people’ – whether they be food bloggers, friends, or celebrities," explains Persha. "Or if you don’t know who your people are, you can find chefs, other people that you trust and listen to them."

At its best, Mosey provide ready made agendas accompanied by a map, photos, and sidebars written by their creators.

For example, New Yorker Robin Rosenberg created a Mosey which takes you around her home city and places you in different scenes from super hero movies.  If you follow her lead, you’ll visit comic book shops, the headquarters of DC Comics, and the scene from "Spiderman" in which the Green Goblin ties Mary Jane Watson to the bridge, among other unique spots.

Another great example is the Mosey created by Parisian Giulia Ceccacci, which give eager travelers a walking tour of the labyrinth of hidden passages created by town planners at the end of the 18th century. The passages, which are lined with charming shops, restaurants, boutiques and specialty shops, provide retail therapy as well as an artful escape from the city’s hustle and bustle.

So, you can see how Mosey is perfect for travelers. However, the site can also offer insights about your home town. 

For instance, when I did a search for "Milwaukee" I found a Mosey from Nan W. from Philadelphia who recently visited Milwaukee. In her "Day in Milwaukee" she made it to a number of the usual spots – the art museum, the Public Market – but she also happened upon one of Milwaukee’s best divey secrets, Barnacle Buds.

"It’s not just about when people are coming to your town," Persha underscores. "It’s when you wake up in the morning, in your own town, and you want to discover something new. You can create that perfect day in your city and then share it with the Mosey community."

And Mosey is perfect for food lovers, since almost every Mosey includes at least one place for food.

 "The restaurant tips are really helpful. When you send someone on a Mosey experience, you can tell them what to get when they’re there," Persha explains.

"What’s important about it for me – when you have a really great experience at a restaurant, it’s rarely just about the food. It can be about the entrance, which is just beautiful or the people at the hostess counter – maybe they’re pretentious -- and that’s all part of the experience. Even if you’re in your own city, you have to eat. It’s just a beautiful thing that we turn a need into an experience."

Not sold yet?

Hop on Mosey.com yourself and sign up for an account.  Even better, between now and June 21, go to mosey.com/winmke and sign up to win the ultimate Miltown Mosey, including tickets to the Milwaukee Art Museum, a tour of Great Lakes Distillery, dinner at Smyth, an overnight stay at The Iron Horse Hotel, and brunch the next day at Harbor House. The winner will be announced on June 24.

Lori Fredrich Senior Food Writer, Dining Editor, Podcast Host

Lori is an avid cook whose accrual of condiments and spices is rivaled only by her cookbook collection. Her passion for the culinary industry was birthed while balancing A&W root beer mugs as a teenage carhop, fed by insatiable curiosity and fueled by the people whose stories entwine with each and every dish. She’s had the privilege of chronicling these tales via numerous media, including OnMilwaukee and in her book “Milwaukee Food.” Her work has garnered journalism awards from entities including the Milwaukee Press Club. 

When she’s not eating, photographing food, writing or recording the FoodCrush podcast, you’ll find Lori seeking out adventures with her husband Paul, traveling, cooking, reading, learning, snuggling with her cats and looking for ways to make a difference.