Abstract

Explaining the why and how.

What we see

Food & Beverage (F&B) establishments have been hit hard during the past 2 years of the global pandemic. Many were shuttered in the face of government imposed lockdowns and social distancing measures. The usual bar goers resorted to at-home drinking with many setting up their own makeshift bar to emulate the feeling of going out. The customary happy hour slowly faded away as friends and colleagues were no longer able to drink together in person and enjoy one’s company.

But as we see the global economy slowly opening back up with pandemic restrictions becoming obsolete, people are starting to go back to normal. But it’s not the same anymore. Favorite bars and nightlife venues are no longer around. It’s safe to say the F&B industry is still struggling.

What is needed is a modern incentive to connect post-pandemic F&B establishments to the new post-pandemic modern drinker. What is needed is an infinite positive feedback loop between happy hour goers and F&B establishments through cryptography.

The new modern happy hour goers need the incentive to hit the bars again…

…and the same can be said for those bars themselves.

In this paper, we propose a solution to the lack of incentive for engaging in the once blissful, customary happy hour and to further web3 adoption amongst F&B merchants so that any future arbitrary lockdowns won’t affect their cash flows ever again. Because every web2 bar needs itself a web3 bar.

What we envision

$HOUR being the official currency within the global F&B industry.

The global F&B industry has traditionally been a fragmented market for obvious purposes. Brick and mortar bars, clubs, and restaurants only serve their local markets. But what if these same businesses can conduct transactions with other customers not served in their local markets? Could there be an incentive system devised so that the same local F&B merchants can sell their specialty tastes as a white label to other F&B merchants located across the globe from them? Could there be a payment network allowing drifters and travelers to still be able to buy a drink at spot in a foreign country without having to exchange for the local fiat currency? Could there be a method to get on a premier whitelist for a new club opening party just by depositing a certain amount of tokens to an address instantly? Could there be a way for you and your friends to reserve your favorite table at the city's hottest rooftop lounge without the uncertainty of a no show for the lounge? The architecture of the $HOUR token was designed and engineered to fill those needs posed above in a seamless, efficient, web3 manner. Whether it be used for loyalty tokens, membership tokens, reservations, payments, bottle deposits, or etc., $HOUR is represented to allow all F&B merchants to speak the same language, regardless of geographic region/culture. We all want to enjoy the good times with our friends. We all don't want to have to worry about small nuances and friction that come along with a night of drinking. We all just want to be able to kick back at happy hour.

An open, organic DAO community for web3 natives interested in raising strategic investments/funding for their local F&B merchants.

The demographics of web3 are statistically skewed towards the millennial generation with some outliers in the Gen X and Gen Z. This demographic do have a high tendency in the outgoing lifestyle of being the club-goer and trendy nightlife chaser. There is a huge connection between web3/crypto natives and the F&B industry. The population is changing and new expectations from the F&B industry need to be able to adapt to what new market demands call for. Millennials are reshaping the food and beverage scene and these establishments need to be able to resonate with what they want and their own technological behavior.

The traditional music-based entertainment bars aren't cutting it these days for millennials. They yearn for something more interactive and engaging. Social media has been shaping the way millennials frequent bars as they seek the most eye popping aesthetic bar as there way of deciding on bar stops. The millennial population is altering and expanding the very definition of entertainment for bars. Some bars has transformed into a paint and sip classroom…or even a yoga studio.

But unfortunately, we see time and time again our favorite bars shutting down. This was especially true during the pandemic era. But as we see the economy open back up again, why not give more empowerment to the bar goers to decide on what F&B merchants need financial help and what new F&B merchants can they invest in. This is what the happyhourDAO is positioned to be. An open, organic DAO community for web3 natives interested in raising strategic investments/funding for their local F&B merchants. Giving millennials and web3 natives more of a say in what they want to see in the F&B scene.

An increased adoption of web3 by the F&B industry and a push for those same F&B merchants in galvanizing their digital representation in the metaverse.

There's no doubt that the emerging metaverse, which the term itself has already been around for many years, is now recently starting to becoming a reality due to many technological factors maturing and coming together. The crux of it all is the decentralized blockchain technology which presumably makes the metaverse less controlled by a certain entity.

Just as significant a factor in the metaverse trend is the coronavirus pandemic, which has radically altered lifestyles across the planet. With people spending so long in Zoom meetings for work, and with soaring use of video games as people seek to enter more colorful and exciting environments without leaving the comfort and safety of their homes, it’s natural for tech companies to look for ways to capitalize on the situation by bridging these two needs.

Traditional companies and industry have already entered the space with a splash. Everything thing from fashion, to beauty tech, to sports, and etc. have already created some form of their brand in the metaverse. Virtual 3D worlds such as Decentraland and SandBox have been popular metaverse structures allowing the random web3 native to take stroll through a new world.

It's time for the F&B industry to also cross the chasm into the metaverse. Giving metaverse-goers a chance to enter their digital representation as a virtual club or restaurant will not only be good business, but also good for brand exposure. Wouldn't you want to have your self-avatar virtually visit your favorite bar in the metaverse?