Today, we’d like to introduce you to Josh Goodman, CEO and Founder of self-serve drinks technology startup, PourMyBeer. We’ll learn about the innovative PourMyBeer technology, Josh’s long road to becoming a successful entrepreneur and what’s next for the company.
Since our readers are new to PourMyBeer, can you tell us about your company?
Of course, thank you. PourMyBeer is an innovative self-serve beverage system that is on the path toward revolutionizing the service industry across the globe. Our goal is to enable faster, more efficient access to beverages. Currently, there are 7 steps a customer must take to get a drink:
- Place order with server
- Server enters POS system
- Bar gets the order
- Bartender fulfills the order
- Server brings to customer
- Customer consumes
With our technology, all a customer needs to do is place their pre-authorized RFID card (we’ll get more into this later) above the tap, and they’re able to serve themselves the quantity and type of beverage that they desire.
One misconception I want to address is that we’re trying to supplant bartenders. We’re not trying to do that. We simply want to repurpose them by removing a menial task and letting bartenders focus on making cocktails, rotating beers and providing better service to bar patrons.
Very interesting, how did you get started with this idea?
It’s been a long time in the works, but I first learned about a few companies taking different approaches to the self-serve beer concept in 2007. While their technology was innovative, it never fully panned out to become a reliable solution.
I took a great interest in the idea in 2008, and I began to put together a business plan that would allow customers to go to “stations” inside a bar to purchase draft beer without the assistance of a bartender or server. I wanted to see if anything similar was being used throughout the U.S., and I came access TableTender, in which bar patrons had beer taps at their tables. Knowing that I was on the right track, I began to envision what my product would look like. I figured it would be about the same size as an ATM machine and include checks and balances that would ensure customers were not overserved and were of legal age.
In April of 2008, I traveled to Atlanta to meet with TableTender’s owner to discuss the potential of working together. After learning more about the industry and how to get the appropriate written approvals from states and counties throughout the U.S., I set up my own distribution company called Innovative Tap Solutions, LLC. I worked out an arrangement with TableTender by which I would buy the systems from TableTender and resell them to my customers.
While bars were enthusiastic about the concept, the upfront cost to reconstruct their bars matched with the costs of the table tap system was simply too high. After going back to the drawing board, I came up with a mobile draft beer table that accomplished what the fixed system did without the cost or time of construction. Soon after finalizing the concept, I got my first customer, Mother’s Federal Hill Grille in Baltimore, and the tables were delivered and installed in February 2009. While the trial went well, there were still technology and service delivery problems, which led to more research and development for our team.
Fast forward about three years to November 2012, and I founded PourMyBeer.
Then, two years later, in June 2014, and we decided to invest in our very own self-serve technology. The end product is an unparalleled design that combines simplicity and functionality with dependability.
That is quite the entrepreneurial journey, but it seems to be paying off. Can you share some of your recent client success stories?
It absolutely has, and we’re really starting to hit our stride. Over the last two years, we’ve doubled in revenue and acquired customers such as Caesars, Whole Foods, Buffalo Wild Wings and many more. We’ve also partnered with social media platform Untappd and point-of-sale (POS) systems Micros and Aloha. The PourMyBeer technology has nearly 3,000 taps in service, and we’re growing seemingly every day. One thing I’m really proud of is the fact that once we’ve installed our technology, we’ve never been replaced!
This year, we’re really focusing on strategic integrations with other solution providers. We want to create a foundation with big POS companies to make it easier for bars and restaurants to use our technology. We also have some big projects in the works that I’m really excited about.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with PourMyBeer – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We’re a technology-first company, so we’re definitely most proud of our engineers and all the hard work that they’ve put in to build an outstanding product. For example, our RFID cards couldn’t even be hacked by SpaceX engineers!
Our technology is really user-friendly, even for people who have never used it before. Once your customer places their RFID card in the holder, they’re on their way to enjoying the beverage of their choice. However, we always make sure that customers are drinking responsibly. We limit customers’ access to 2 drinks per person.
Once the card reaches its limit, the magic box at the tap will say, “please have one of our friendly staff reactivate your card,” on the screen. If you want to keep drinking, you’ll need to get a server’s attention to authorize your RFID card.
When the customer is ready to close out, they pay for whatever they’ve poured with cash or a credit card, and they’re on with the rest of their day.
It seems like PourMyBeer is on the road to success. What’s next? Any big plans?
We want to maintain our position as category king. We are branching off into other aspects of self-serve, i.e. cold brew coffee by credit card payments and kombucha. We are also deepening our partnerships with the major POS companies to make our systems work more smoothly in any environment.
Contact Info:
- Address: 310 N Wolf Road
- Website: www.PourMyBeer.com
- Phone: 443-691-2337
- Email: josh@pourmybeer.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/pourmybeer
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/pourmybeer
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/pourmybeer
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