Small Business Q&A: Mike Morrissey and David Kenaghan

Mike Morrissey and David Kenaghan, pictured, left their jobs to start My Deal Doc. From that they have now developed a fast-growing app called My Booze Doc and they sat down with Kehlan to explain how it started.

- So you left good jobs in a recession to start My Deal Doc, Why?

It wasn’t an easy decision at all. We were working for a major finance company at the time. So between February and March was audit season. So that means long hours on bleak days. One day on our lunch break we were sitting around talking about the future and whether we actually wanted to do what we were doing for the rest of our lives and the definitive answer was no.

So that planted the seed and then we decided it was time to make something happen. So we developed the concept of My Deal Doc which has developed the My Booze Doc app. The app allows people to see where the best deals are for drinks in their area or wherever they may be headed to. This allows wine stores and off licences to speak directly to customers and potential customers about what they have on their shelves at a good price.

- Naturally there is a question over responsible drinking when it comes to My Booze Doc?

Of course, and we made sure that we complied with drinking responsibilities because our app isn’t about the cheapest alcohol but the best priced or best deal on alcohol. For example, if you are a wine store and the offer is for a €20 bottle of wine for €15 then that is the best deal in the area for a medium-priced bottle of wine. It was important for us not to be part of something that encouraged a ‘race to the bottom’ on alcohol.

This app is designed for finding deals that complement tastes as well as prices, so it’s not about low-low prices. We know that with something like we have to be careful in the way it is perceived as well as marketed. You won’t find our deals listed by price because of this.

- You use social media, of course, but you also put your boots on the ground as well?

Yes, like any business now we use social media but it’s also about getting out to the customer base as well. That means getting up at 6am and travelling around the country to speak with off licences, wine shops or just to hand out fliers to people. This has meant that in the first six months of us launching My Booze Doc over 25,000 people now have it on their phone. For anybody out there that deals in the app industry, they will tell you that that it is pretty good going for something new on the market. So for us it was important to going out to our audience and seeing first-hand what they wanted and how we could keep improving our offering.

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