(Credit:
buyyourfriendadrink.com)
This post was updated at 1:04 PM PT to clarify the launch date of the Drink Card program.
Forget your run-of-the-mill Best Buy and Barnes & Noble gift cards. I know more than a few people who think a gift card that you could redeem for whiskey sours or Stella Artois would make a way better stocking stuffer.
Meet the "Drink Card" from BuyYourFriendADrink.com (BYFAD). The ambitious little start-up allows you to pay a dollar amount by credit card that a friend can then redeem for a drink at a participating bar by showing a text message code, has continually been one of our favorites to cover. Perhaps it's because a benevolent editor used the service to remotely buy me an apple martini that I then ordered at a local bar by showing the bartender a code in a text message--at 3:00 in the afternoon.
The service has expanded quite a bit since our initial test run, including launching a partnership with party-hearty social network Going.com and expanding beyond its original home base of New York to more than 120 bars and restaurants in New York, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, D.C., New Orleans, and Biloxi. (Sorry, San Francisco. You got one-upped by Biloxi.)
On Thursday, BYFAD will officially launch the Drink Card, which is exactly what you think it is: a credit card-sized piece of plastic that the bartender can swipe like a credit card to deduct the proper amount. You'll be able to fill one up for yourself or a friend with anywhere from $5 to $250, which means that won't cover anything really expensive. But here's the cool part: not only will each card come with a free $10 right off the bat, you get a 20 percent bonus, so that if you add $25 to a Drink Card, you get an extra $5. As a release from the company read, "It's a cool way to get a free round before you even leave for a bar or restaurant." Well, not really, since it can't magically make a Hoegaarden appear in front of me (complete with lemon slice), but I guess it does still constitute free drinks.
Sure, the whole process is a little complicated, especially if either party is under the influence, but it's a cute gimmick, and the fact that BYFAD takes a small commission from each purchase means that with a critical mass of eager drinkers, the company could actually be profitable. It's hoping to continue its expansion, too, with upcoming features including mobile ordering and a revamped bar search. And let's hope they add some San Francisco bars to their roster (a company representative has hinted that this is on the way). I want to buy my lovely West Coast colleagues some beers soon.
On a closing note, it goes without saying: please drink responsibly.
One of my most memorable career moments thus far was the "road test" of BuyYourFriendADrink.com (BYFAD), in which I took a midday field trip to a neighborhood bar to test out the service (which does exactly what its name implies it will do, via text message). It worked like a charm, but a few of us continued to wonder how a limited and somewhat gimmicky site could survive--especially since it has yet to expand outside a set of 60 bars in New York City and the surrounding metro area.
Well, now we have an inkling of an idea of what the BYFAD guys have in store. The site just announced a partnership with Going.com, which is, to put it in plain terms, a social network for urban partiers. Going currently has networks in Boston, New York, and San Francisco (with Chicago, Los Angeles, London, and Miami apparently on the way) and is kind of like a Yelp for parties and events rather than venues. Members can create profiles, add events and invite other members, and upload photos from events they've been to.
Now, through the BYFAD integration, Going.com profiles will have a "Buy Me A Drink" button right under their profile photos, which opens up a BYFAD window that's integrated into the site so that you can enter your payment information. The code for redeeming the drink will appear in your friend's Going inbox.
The BYFAD-Going partnership is so far only applicable in Going's New York network, but Boston is apparently close behind. Going is a small social network--only 300,000 members--but it's interesting to think about how future social networks could leverage this kind of third-party service. I can say with a fair amount of confidence that if there were a Facebook Platform app where you could buy people drinks, it'd get pretty darn popular.
I'd initially been skeptical about BuyYourFriendADrink.com (BYFAD), the Web site that just opened today (see previous coverage) in which you can remotely order drinks for your friends that they can redeem at participating bars by showing the bartender a code in a text message. It's available at about 40 bars in New York City and the surrounding area, and the company plans to gradually expand to other urban areas over the course of the year.
I'd been pretty confident that the site itself would work, but I hadn't been entirely positive that the bars involved would really have their act together. Rafe Needleman was very kind to use BYFAD to text me a few bucks so that I'd be able to try the service out, but going into it, I was fully expecting that I'd be greeted with a strange look when I tried to pay for libations with a code in a text message.
However, when CNET associate producer Wilson Tang and I rolled into the Mad Hatter Saloon, just a few blocks from our Manhattan bureau, we were pleasantly surprised. The bartender initially wasn't aware that BYFAD codes could be contained in text messages (she'd thought it would be in the form of an e-mail printout) but she was aware of the site and knew what to do. There was a bit of a delay while she entered the code into the bar's credit card system, but I think that's something that most people will be willing to accept.
The apple martini that I bought with a text message
(Credit: Caroline McCarthy)It basically did work just like a gift certificate or promotional code. Our balance went slightly over the amount Rafe had sent, because there were two of us, but that went through quite smoothly--we just handed over the amount of cash required to settle the check. And I had a darned good apple martini (though not an iMartini). Thanks, Rafe!
So, I give BuyYourFriendADrink a thumbs-up. Sure, it's gimmicky, and it's still very limited. But now when I win bets with my West Coast-based colleagues, I don't have to wait until I'm traveling out there for my "you owe me a beer" agreements to be fulfilled.
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