SpotHopper's Individualized Approach to Grabbing a Drink
Milwaukee-Based App Eliminates the Guesswork of Going Out
Fueled by the frustration of poor-performing review apps, Aleks Ivanovic and his son, Nikola, were inspired to create an app that better catered to the tastes of users. The result was SpotHopper, a local search engine providing personalized recommendations for bars, beers, cocktails and wines.
“Most review apps recommend places based on average score and, at the end of the day, everything ends up settling around 3.5 stars,” said Ivanovic. “Sure, the typical review app might prevent you from making a mistake, but odds are you won’t love where you end up.”
SpotHopper made its Milwaukee debut in April 2014 and is free to download through Apple or Android. The app bases recommendations on users’ location and also their preferences of beers, wines and cocktails. Ambiance and price point are also taken into consideration.
Earlier this year, Ivanovic introduced bar management software that allows the SpotHopper team to automatically update a tavern’s online content, including all arms of social media.
Ivanovic explained that his subscription-based software saves bar owners precious time that might be wasted crafting messages for social media. “A post needs to be done right in order to be noticed,” said Ivanovic.
Currently, SpotHopper is available in Milwaukee and New York City. Ivanovic estimated that between the two cities, 60 establishments use the SpotHopper subscription service and nearly 10,000 users have downloaded the app.
