Outdoor Seating Guide: Jinx Lounge

August 4, 2010

With the anticipation of better weather Portlanders are going to be eating out now more than ever, and many are itching to enjoy their food and drink outside.  However, not all vendors here in Portland provide such amenities, so we here at Forkfly have done all the research for you.   Every week we will showcase a new restaurant or café that offers outdoor seating for your weather enjoying pleasure.  The first spot we are highlighting is the uber popular Jinx Lounge located on 12th Ave in the Pearl District.

Jinx, which is adjacent to Vault Martini, offers a swanky experience for anyone who might be in the mood for a cocktail or culinary delight.  While the venue provides mood lighting and 70’s inspired décor inside, the outdoor seating is just as nice.  Jinx has three to four small round tables located out front. While it isn’t recommended that you rely on this seating for large groups, bringing a friend or two to enjoy martinis and Happy Hour in their outdoor seating is quite pleasant.  The location is perfect for people watching, and after a long day of shopping in the Pearl, Jinx is the perfect place to unwind.

Be sure to visit Vault Martini next door too, which is owned by the same owner as Jinx. Both provide a unique and posh atmosphere with well versed bartenders and a wide selection of drinks.  Even better, right now on Forkfly Jinx is offering Happy Hour all night long when you flash the fly!

Forkfly Fridays: In Happy Hour Heaven with Vault Martini

June 12, 2010

Happy Hours aren’t hard to find in Portland, but actually choosing one out of the hundreds available can be a daunting task.  No one happy hour is alike, and you would be surprised how varied the hours are, the menus and the prices.  Researching all these options would take a lot of time and energy, so why not let us do the hard work for you?  Every week we are spotlighting a new Happy Hour in our hometown Portland, Oregon, starting with one of the most impressive Happy Hour drink menus around at Vault Martini.

Vault’s drink menu reads like a list of entrees.  You’ve got your different kinds of Drops, Savories, Sweets, Bubblies, Margaritas, Hot Drinks, and of course Martinis.  There are over 20 different drinks available on the Happy Hour menu.  The most impressive thing though are the prices—all drinks on the HH menu range from $3-$5.  That means you can get a Banana Drop for $4, a Blackberry Margarita for $5, a Thin Mint Martini for $5, and three cocktails later you are feeling happy and have spent less than $15 on some truly amazing drinks.

To make your sipping experience that much better Vault has comfortable couch type seating, chairs centered around their fireplace, and some good tunes playing in the background.  When I visited there on a Wednesday evening their bartender Jacose was attentive, informative and made a killer Habanero Martini (which she told me is a Vault fave).

Vault’s Happy Hour runs from 4pm-7pm DAILY.  This means you have a reason to be happy every day of the week.  The only down fall about their HH menu is they don’t offer food, but you can always order an appetizer for pretty cheap from their regular menu or hop on over to Vault’s sister restaurant Jinx Lounge.  Vault Martini is located at 226 NW 12th Avenue in The Pearl District.

Improving your Forkfly experience as a business owner

October 21, 2009

We like to suggest to business owners that Forkfly is a 60/40 proposition. There are few marketing solutions that are as affordable as Forkfly, but what you get out of it is in large part up to you. In a sense, this is very much in line with what is typical in social media. For example, we’ve seen numerous business owners try to utilize tools such as Twitter. One business was ‘tweeting’ new messages at an average rate of once every 20 minutes. The problem? They had 11 followers. It’s like continually shouting to an empty room.

We have a few great examples of merchants that are making the most of their experience on Forkfly and seeing a tremendous ROI as a result.

Vault Martini: Proprietors Kenny and Casey have done an amazing job of utilizing Forkfly. From simple details like placing the Forkfly window sticker in a prominent position, to more involved moves such as sharing Forkfly with their existing clients to improve retention. They post creative and compelling offers on Forkfly that are highly targeted. Their staff is knowledgeable and extremely courteous to Forkfly users.

Visual FX Salon: This salon signed on to Forkfly very recently, but had a number of new client appointments almost immediately. Why? While their Twitter following is fairly small for now, they made sure to share that they were on Forkfly with their existing followers. We then ‘retweeted’ (rebroadcasting of another’s twitter message) to our 7,000 local followers. The results are compelling. Those merchants that are using social media, even on a limited basis, are seeing better results with Forkfly.

Ford’s on 5th: Jeff, the owner of Ford’s, has also been proactive. His staff has been known to spot people using smartphones and encourage them to download and use Forkfly. Again, the name of the game is retention! Making sure that your staff is encouraging your clients to frequently check Forkfly for your latest specials is hugely effective.

Forkfly is an effective way to earn more clients. It’s also a great way to drive your existing clients to frequent your business more often.

If you are interested in learning about these or other ways to improve your success on Forkfly, please contact chris@forkfly.com.

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