A “backer bar” is a bar that caters to a team foriegn to a local market. For example, a San Francisco Giants bar in midtown Manhattan would be a backer bar. Mike Stratis and Brian Folmer recently created a new business and website called BackerBar.com to catalog and locate these kinds of establishments.
What’s the point you ask? Well what if you’re traveling on business and want to watch the big game in a friendly locale? Where do you go? That’s BackerBar’s niche.
I recently had a few minutes to to speak with Brian Day about the company.
What’s BackerBar.com?
The internet’s first entirely accurate database of bars that support sports teams foreign to the local market. An Ohio State BackerBar in LA or a Boston Red Sox BackerBar in Chicago are some examples. Currently there are competing sites out there but most are just regional and incomplete; there is plenty of room for improvement.
How does it work?
The pulse of our business is a combination of the sports fans, the bar owners and the alumni associations or fan clubs. Our goal is to mediate the game watch parties for out of town teams in whatever cities the fans are located in. Our geotargeted marketing platform will help us connect directly with men and women within our demographics. With the help of IP address and web browsing history, Backerbar will have the perfect leads to help grow the foot traffic at the bars and the organization activity alike.
By providing easy to access, correct, information to the sports fans we can help generate more revenues for the bars and the alumni associations. The more exposure for our company the more people we can connect.
Where’d the idea come from?
Sitting in Columbus, Ohio on a Sunday afternoon Brian Folmer could not located a Cleveland Browns bar with ease. Theoretically, with the support of the internet, one would think that this information would be readily available. Seeing that is was not, the idea was born.
What’s your background?
The ringleaders are Mike Stratis & Brian Folmer:
Mike Stratis – Undergraduate degree from Kent State University in Business Management and currently pursing an MBA degree from Cleveland State University. Professional experience working in a fast paced sales field combining the inside, outside and web skills needed to complete the sale.
Brian Folmer – graduate of Ohio State’s Fisher College of Business. After earning his BSBA, Brian attended Capital Law School for one year. Instead of returning this fall, he has put his J.D. on hold to pursue building the services provided by BackerBar.
For a look at all of the different college football backer bars in Manhattan watch this:
For an even longer look at the company, read this interview the founders did with Nibletz.