Birmingham got a thumbs-up from Outside magazine this summer when the publication judged it to have achieved the “Best Southern Renaissance” in a survey of midsized American cities. Things are happening in the Magic City, but how do you sort them all out?
A new app called The House will help. Developed by business partners Matt Patterson and Matt Harb to solve the same problem in Chattanooga, Tennessee a few years ago, they’ve now expanded to Birmingham. It’s a “what’s going on tonight” tool that sifts through restaurant and bar specials, happy hours and events like live music or trivia. Restaurateurs can also use The House to create an agile offer or special within the app and push it live through the platform, creating exclusive offers for users.
The company has solid Alabama credentials, as CEO Patterson went to Vestavia Hills High School and graduated from the University of Alabama, a Birmingham resident for about five years before moving to Chattanooga.
“It’s great to see the strides the city has made overall, as well as the improving culinary and entertainment scene, ” Patterson says. “We tried to do a good job of covering as much area as we could as far as where the local restaurant and bar scene is by the time we launched in Birmingham, so we have great coverage downtown: Avondale, Lakeview, 5 Points, Southside, Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills, and Homewood, but we’ll eventually be spreading that coverage even further into Hoover, and further down 280.”
Text by Dave Helms