April Johnson, Happied founder and CEO, says she was always the friend that people asked “where should we go for happy hour?”
To answer that simple but sometimes complicated question, she created Happied, a website equipped with a database of everything you need to know about D.C. happy hours. It includes info on specialty drinks, food and even reviews.
“We strongly believe that happy hour is a way to connect people and hope that the community uses our platform to explore all of the amazing restaurants and bars the district has to offer,” she said.
Johnson first launched Happied in 2016 as a blog where she featured and reviewed happy hours she’d been to, but after the idea was received so well by the community, she upgraded to an interactive database in 2017. Through a map, you can browse happy hour locations in D.C.
You can access Happied for free but the web app has a subscription program called #GetHappied, where you can pay $8 a month to get access to extended happy hours at participating locations.
“I decided to create an app that solves this daily consumer problem while driving revenue and traffic to quality venues. It’s a win-win,” Johnson said.
Happied now has a following of more than 6,000 people, Johnson told us in an interview. Happied has an internal team of frequent happy hour goers who rate happy hours in a slew of categories.
A look at the Happied map. (Screenshot)
Johnson said the “goal is to strategically scale Happied into a national platform.” There are plans to expand the service to Chicago in 2019.
Johnson says the team is working on launching a mobile app, and with new funding, they are on the right track. In July, the New Voices Fund launched at the Essence Festival and committed to awarding $100 million to women of color entrepreneurs. Through a pitch competition hosted by the fund, Johnson competed and was awarded $10,000 to support the creation of a Happied mobile app.
The mobile app will build on the web platform, incorporate user reviews and additional search functionalities. Johnson said the company has plans to launch the mobile app by the end of the year.
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