Backstory: Julia and I tend to visit the same bars/restaurants and sit at the bar with the same bartenders. We form friendships with these guys and enjoy getting to know them on a personal level. They almost always remember our beverage orders. Maybe I have a memorable face, maybe it's because I order the same thing, all the time... cider, any cider (gluten issues). Given we frequent the same spots for the drinks I would be interested in receiving text/emails when there are specials and our favorite bartenders are working.

The Idea: An app for bartenders to remember their customers and send them updates about their schedule and drink specials.

Deep Dive: Bartending is one of the oldest personal service careers to date. Given the rise in freelancing and personal services it's kind of shocking there haven't been any improvements technology wise in this space. A custom Customer Relationship Management (CRM) app would allow bartenders to remember their customer's favorite drinks, food and hours/days of the week they frequent. Given most people return to the same "spot" for a drink, they would most like be willing to give some personal information and receive notifications. The bartender would be able to send notifications of drink specials when they're working next.

The app could learn their customers buying and visiting habits and automatically send out emails to their customers when there are specials. If there are no specials, the app could send gentle reminders that their favorite bartender is working on a night they frequent the bar. This would give more "power" to the bartender rather than relying on the bar to provide clients and specials to bring in customers.

Validation: Julia and I enjoy visiting our local bar and getting drinks from Anthony. He's fun to talk with, we all enjoy watching UFC and going to the gym. I don't really feel the need to have his schedule memorize or even know the specials at the bar but I wouldn't mind getting a random text or email from a service letting me know when he's working and/or there are specials. A simple text may convince us to to visit that bar rather than another.

Monetization: This app would be great for the freemium model, allow bartenders to use most features for free, customer management and email. Adding text messaging could be extra and could scale based on number of texts sent. The goal is that the more texts sent, the more tips, the more likely the bartender would continue to use the app and that feature. Any bartenders out there that would like to use an app like this? Email us, we'd love to hear from you!

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