Barfly Social Club app: All-in-one social club, drink special curator

Looking to meet people and find some drink specials around town? BarFly Social Club, a new smartphone app slated to launch June 15, will set up social gatherings at bars in Los Angeles, New York City and other cities across the country.

Founder Lance Stacy, who has served as the gourmet director for Living Social for the last two years and has been a chef for 20 years, wanted to create what he calls a social club 3.0.

“In my day, a social club was a group of folks who met up in smoky halls and sat around telling bad jokes and ate buffets,” Stacy said. “Barfly Social Club is a social club and social media 3.0 app that administrates, facilitates real-life relationships, but does not supplant them.”

The app works by giving members nightly spots to meet other members and sip specially priced cocktails and discounted bites priced at $3, $5 or $7. The app will be free to download, then users can choose which of three membership tiers they would like to belong to. The first tier, which gives access to $3 specials, is free. The second tier, with access to the $3 and $5 specials, is $10 a month, and the third tier, with access to all the specials, is $25 a month.

Once you sign on, you input what city you’re in and the app lets you know which venues are hosting social hours. Stacy’s goal is to have at least 50 social hours in each city, every night, but there’s no list of participating venues available just yet.

“We’re servicing affiliate membership groups sourced from the top professional clubs, sports clubs, the bar association, medical association and business schools,” said Stacy. “The relevance of this is those organization all go out for cocktails after their meetings and they need a place to enjoy quality cocktails where someone can afford to buy a round for everyone.”

Although Stacy is initially reaching out to established social clubs for members, BarFly Social Club is available for anyone to become a member.

Once a venue is selected, the app acts as an ordering system that lets you order your drinks or food on the phone. When you arrive, show your server the app and they’ll place the order as they normally would on their own system. You can also receive preferential seating at a restaurant or bar depending on your membership level.

The app also has a rewards component for users and staff members at participating venues. Once you show your order to your server, they can verify it using the app and both the user and server will receive rewards points. You can also earn rewards by sharing your experiences using social media. The points can be redeemed for weekend getaways, wine tours, spa packages and more.

Stacy also plans to add a dating feature called “the honey spot” that will allow users to share their profiles publicly, something you’re unable to do with the app normally. After a user shares their profile, they can announce to other members that they’ll be at a specific location at a certain time if others would like to meet up, but there won’t be any sort of chat function.

Barfly Social Club will be available for Android and iPhone.