Meet Gordon Beecher of Gloworder

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gordon Beecher.

Hi Gordon, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Covid decimated the bar industry. But, the bar business was difficult to even before the pandemic. More than 60% of bars and restaurants don’t make it past their first year, and 80% go out of business within five years. I worked in the hospitality industry for many years. I was a manager of four high-volume nightclubs for nearly a decade. The impetus for Gloworder came from my observations of the bar scene and my aspirations to optimize my business.

The bar counter is the centerpiece of any bar. Customers, two or three deep, crowd around and jockey for position, shouting orders at hurried bartenders over the drowning sounds of music and the crowd. Bartenders are so busy that they serve movement; whomever they see first, they serve first. So, customers that are polite or short – and, generally, females – are overlooked. It’s disorganized and frustrating. That can be disheartening for customers and costs bartenders and bar owners money.

From the bartenders’ perspective, the flow of service is also inefficient. A typical bar transaction requires three “touches” from the bartender.

1. First, the bartender takes an order. Sometimes customers aren’t prepared or can’t communicate the order very well. This may result in bartenders preparing the wrong itemsand contributesto a bar’s “waste costs.” Across the country, waste costs constitute 25% of a bar’s annual losses.
2. After preparing the order, the bartender delivers the order. This also requires the bartender to take payment, usually a credit card, and – if the bartender is diligent about chargeback prevention – get the customer’s ID. Running payment can take several minutes, especially if the customer’s card is declined.
3. Afterwards, the bartender returns to the customer with a receipt for them to sign. Hopefully, all goes well, but sometimes the receipt is stuffed into the customer’s pocket, ends up soggy on the bar, or is dropped on the floor and swept into the trash. And yet, this is the best-case scenario; sometimes, customers drink and dash without paying.

These are just some of the problems that plague the bar industry. But, at Gloworder, we were determined to tackle these problems. So, we developed a patented system and method enabling customers to order – and bartenders to receive those orders – using their phones.

Using their phones, customers log into a bar on the Gloworder platform. They can then browse the bar’s menu, select or build drinks, then submit an order. Bartenders read the orders as they come in, then deliver them to the customers. There may be dozens of orders in the bartenders’ queue, but only the top four are displayed and assigned a color (red, blue, green, or purple). The customer’s phone brightly glows the respective color, enabling bartenders to identify them and deliver the order. Payment is handled automatically. So, Gloworder reduces the three touches to one, just the delivery of the order. Gloworder increases efficiency by 70%.

Gloworder is working with early adopters and bars that are excited about the concept and see the potential. To help provide the best value to both customers and bar owners, we’re launching a Kickstarter campaign to expand awareness and raise funds to support our early adopters benefit from being the first to offer Gloworder to their customers. You can find more information at https://bit.ly/know_the_glow.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Every entrepreneurial endeavor requires immense time, work, and resources. And, there is always adversity that requires learning and problem-solving.

Gloworder has developed a dual-sided platform that caters to two groups of users – bar owners and bar patrons. Each new market poses a Catch-22.  Think of Uber’s beginnings – riders wouldn’t sign up until drivers offered rides, but drivers wouldn’t sign up until riders requested rides. Similarly, Gloworder must simultaneously onboard bar owners and bar patrons to provide the best service and value.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about you and Gloworder?  What are you proud of?
I am the founder and CEO of Gloworder. I’m good at identifying problems and thinking of creative ways to solve them. But, execution is everything. After acquiring the patents for Gloworder, I assembled a team of talented developers and engineers to build out our platform.

I’m most proud of Gloworder for its value to the bar industry. We don’t intend to replace POS systems, but when bars are busy, bartenders use Gloworder because it’s easier and more efficient. Bar owners using Gloworder quickly recognize the benefits to customers and staff alike while watching their revenues increase and costs decrease. It’s an exciting time at Gloworder.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
The greatest driver of any company’s growth is its value to its customers. We constantly research additional benefits and troubleshoot potential use cases to refine Gloworder and add features that will further help bars and customers.

Pricing:

• Gloworder is free for all to download. We’re able to do this because Gloworder adds a small fee to each customer’s order to cover our costs. And, for our early adopter bars, Gloworder is also free. In fact, we even offer a free tablet for bartenders’ use behind the bar.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gloworder.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gloworder
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gloworder/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/gloworder/