When your products look like this:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJL5bY3g7mI/
Instagram can be your most valuable marketing tool.
“We definitely see people coming in holding their phone up and saying, ‘’Hey, I want whatever this thing is,’” said Phil Han, who owns Korean-inspired cafe Dooby’s and cocktail bar Sugarvale, both in Mt. Vernon.
“We just like having fun with our Instagram,” Han said. “We are fortunate to photograph really fun food all the time, which is the dream for Instagram users.” (He said he tried Twitter but found that it affected his personal life because he became constantly accessible.)
Han will be speaking on a panel about social media strategies at Baltimore Innovation Week 2016’s Media Day on Tuesday, Sept. 27.
Get tickets
Han, who has made mover-and-shaker lists like Baltimore Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” in 2014 and as one of the Baltimore Sun’s “10 People to Watch Under 30” in 2013, used to work in the tech world of Manhattan but since he opened Dooby’s in 2013, it’s been all about the food — and Baltimore. Dooby’s is also one of Technical.ly’s go-to choices for catering when hosting events in the city (our staff especially loves the Fruity Pebbles cookies).
https://www.instagram.com/p/BGwhYwULI4T
After leaving his position as rewards New York partnership manager at media and ecommerce company Thrillist in New York and returning to his native Baltimore about four years ago, Han said saw the opportunity for a cafe when he realized the city didn’t have many casual spaces where people could just hang out.
Before Dooby’s, Han also tried running an incubator space called The Hatch, which Han described as a “pop-up space that would allow other restaurant owners to explore in a brick-and-mortar space.”
The Hatch, however, ran into a lot of red tape from the city and Han shut it down.
“The idea and the word ‘pop-up’ was almost unheard of about four years ago,” he said. “The city wasn’t thrilled with that concept. … We made that work for as long as we could but we wanted to grow the cocktail program we were trying at Dooby’s and give it the space it deserved.”
Growing the cocktail program meant opening Sugarvale, also located in Mount Vernon.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKWc0iLBGHL/
Han said he’s not that tied into the local tech scene, though Dooby’s has been involved in BIW through catering and will also be catering some events this year. Even so, he feels like the scene is open to newcomers.
“It tends to be quite welcoming to people who are doing cool things within the innovation space,” he said.