BeerMe

Helping craft beer bars turn menus into interactive experiences.

Role
AI-Assisted Full-Stack Execution
Time
2026
Platform
Mobile Web (PWA)
Domain
Hospitality & Nightlife
BeerMe running on a phone in a craft beer bar

01 – Background & Challenge

The Problem

While working at a renowned craft beer bar, staff managed over 130 rotating beers. Printed menus quickly became outdated as the selection changed, creating friction for guests and forcing bartenders to walk customers through a large, frequently updated inventory one by one. BeerMe reimagines the menu as a live, interactive layer for guests, while giving venue management a way to control inventory in real time.

  • Decision paralysis at scale: with 130+ rotating options, browsing a flat menu overwhelmed guests
  • Peak-hour service bottlenecks: personal guidance from bartenders drove satisfaction but severely slowed service during busy shifts
  • Venue managers need an ultra-simple admin interface they can update from a phone in seconds, with no downtime

02 – Core Product Strategy

Key Decisions

1Instant QR-to-PWA Onboarding

Problem

Asking guests to download an app or fill out a sign-up form at the table killed interest before they even saw the menu.

Decision

I built a fast Progressive Web App that opens straight from a QR code on the table, no install needed.

Reasoning

Zero friction at the first touch: the menu has to be on screen before the guest loses patience.

Impact

Guests go from scanning the code to browsing live inventory in seconds, on any phone.

Instant QR-to-PWA Onboarding screen

2Interactive "Find Me a Beer" Wizard

Problem

Scrolling through 130+ beer names and brewing terms was overwhelming if you weren't already a beer person.

Decision

I built a quick 3-question flow that asks about flavor, intensity and style instead of jargon.

Reasoning

It meant someone who'd never heard of an IPA could still get a recommendation they'd actually enjoy.

Impact

Turns an overwhelming menu into 3 suggestions guests can pick from in seconds.

Interactive "Find Me a Beer" Wizard screen

3Actionable Venue Analytics

Problem

Venue managers had no real way to know which beers guests actually liked, so reordering and menu decisions were mostly guesswork.

Decision

I added a stats view to the admin dashboard that separates what's ordered most, what's actually finished (not just poured), and what gets rated highest.

Reasoning

Those three don't always point to the same beer, and that gap is exactly what managers needed to see.

Impact

Gives managers real numbers to base purchasing and menu decisions on, instead of going by memory.

Actionable Venue Analytics screen

03 – Results & Value

Outcomes & Impact

~6–8 weeks

Time to launch

Estimated

27

Registered users

~52% (14 of 27)

Returning users

Estimated

BeerMe was live on the bar's real menu with real guests. Early numbers are small, but the returning rate showed guests found it useful enough to use again on their next visit.

04 – Reflection

Lessons Learned

The biggest lesson from BeerMe was that the best opportunities are sometimes right where you already are. What started as a simple idea to digitize a menu turned into something that changed how guests order and how the bar tracks what's actually working. Building for a busy, real bar instead of a clean demo taught me to care more about removing friction than adding features.

TNDTom Nizan – Product Designer