Looking to shop, eat and frequent local businesses in Greenville but don’t know where to go? That’s okay, because there’s an app for that.
The Greenville Local Flavor app, which launched earlier this month, provides information on locally owned businesses in several different categories including food and drink, beer (yes, it needed its own category), places to stay, shopping, entertainment, services, arts and venues.
Husband-and-wife team Ted and Flori Pate created the Local Flavor app and website in Asheville, after winning the 2013 Asheville Startup Weekend Competition, an event created to help fledging entrepreneurs launch their idea in 54 hours. The competition “encouraged us to take the idea to the next level,” said Ted Pate.
The Pates launched the Asheville app late last year, and while they said they never really started out with a goal of expanding to additional markets, the “business model can work anywhere,” said Flori Pate. Earlier this month, The Local Flavor, Greenville edition, debuted with a soft release. The Pates spent four years in Greenville, and even though they now live in Asheville, say they still have a connection to the area and do day trips frequently.
Businesses that sign on are called members and are able to customize their own information on the app and website, send push notifications to users that favorite them and provide a daily scoop notification on things that are happening. Cost is $100 per month for businesses, with discounts for artists and local musicians.
The platform was built from scratch and was created “with ease of use in mind,” said Ted Pate. “We wanted the least amount of clicks possible to get information.” Pate says the platform will be highly customized for each city.
Members can provide discounts, but it’s more about information to offer “an authentic experience” and what makes a city unique, said Flori Pate. “We’re not a discount site – we’re the anti-Groupon.”
The main difference in the Local Flavor app versus others is the commitment to local-only businesses, said Flori Pate. In order to become a member, a business must be independent and at least 50 percent owned in Greenville County with no headquarters outside of the region, not registered as a franchise, and must makeindependent decisions about the business – meaning name, look, and purchasing plus distribution practices are decided on by a local team.
“We have a strict definition of what local is, and it’s what makes us different,” said Flori Pate. “We turn down a lot of businesses, but we are not budging on that. We’re sticking to our guns.”
Kim Eades, who works for the Table 301 restaurant group, and friend AC Rodwell are heading up the effort in Greenville to attract new members. Eades and Flori Pate had been friends and attended Presbyterian College together.
So far, they have 10 members in Greenville with several more who have expressed interest. Eades says the goal is to have 100 members in the Greenville market within the first year. “I think we’ll definitely surpass that,” she said.
“I’m a big believer in supporting local businesses,” said Eades. “We’re keeping the mom and pop stores in business and keeping the greenbacks in Greenville.”
Ted Pate says that so far growth to other cities such as Chattanooga, Tenn., and Del Ray Beach/Boca Raton, Fla., has been through friends in each area. The Pates intend to launch into Savannah, Ga., and Charleston later this year as well as continuing to fine-tune the app and website.
To download the free app, visit greenville.localflavorapp.com.
