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- Slightly Toasted #3: Lets Get local
Slightly Toasted #3: Lets Get local
Do it for the neighborhood!
Phillip Terrell
March 05, 2025
Welcome to Slightly Toasted, where we dish out daily business ideas, weird ventures, quick hacks, and success stories—minus the corporate BS.
Built by Entreprenuers for Entreprenuers.
Today’s Menu:
The Main Dish 🍽️: Nightout…on the town
Strange Brew 🫙: Where I met your…laundry?
Hustle Hack 💹: Free images for all your needs!
The Big Score 💰️: A spic and span success story
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Ok…Lets get cooking.
The Main Dish | Business Ideas
Nightout Pass 🎭️
(Dinner and a movie…but better)
🔦 The Pitch: Ever scramble to put together the perfect date night or a killer gift? NightOut Pass bundles dinner reservations, live show tickets, and post-show cocktails into one all-in-one gift card—no more juggling multiple gift certificates or frantic calls to restaurants. Give someone (or yourself) a memorable evening out on the town with zero planning headaches.
What’s Cooking? (The Opportunity) 🍪
Right now, if you want to treat someone to a full night out; dinner, show, and a few drinks, you’re stitching together separate bookings, gift cards, or websites. It’s a hassle, and half the time, the seats are sold out, or your restaurant of choice isn’t taking last-minute reservations.
NightOut Pass flips that script by pre-negotiating packages with local eateries, theaters, comedy clubs, and cocktail bars. Your friend/spouse/boss just picks a date, chooses from a selection of partner venues, and their entire evening is queued up like magic.
Recipe (The Solution) 🧾
Curated Local Partners
Work with 1–3 popular restaurants (offering a prix fixe menu), local theaters or concert venues (seat selection included), and a slick cocktail lounge or dessert bar for that post-show treat.
One Pass to Rule Them All
Buyers receive a physical or digital gift card that can be activated online.
Once activated, recipients hop onto your platform (web or app) to choose the date, time, and specific partner spots that suit them.
Go-to-Market & Startup Costs
Partner Outreach: You’ll need to negotiate discounted rates or special deals with local businesses.
Tech Platform: A user-friendly website or app to handle gift card activation, scheduling, and real-time availability.
Marketing: Social media ads, local influencer reviews, maybe a targeted push around holidays (Valentine’s Day, birthdays, corporate gifts, etc.).
Check, Please (Monetizing) 💲
Markup on Face Value
Negotiate bulk discounts from partners, then sell the pass at a slight markup. The difference is your profit.
Commission-Based
Alternatively, take a percentage from each booking. Partners love new customers, so they’ll often share a slice of revenue.
Tiered Packages
Bronze: Casual dining + off-peak show tickets + a standard cocktail.
Silver: Mid-range restaurant, prime show seating, premium drink selection.
Gold: High-end dining, VIP show seats, fancy lounge after-party.
Corporate & Group Bundles
Market to companies looking for a memorable gift for employees or clients. Offer volume discounts, custom branding, etc.
Domain Name Ideas 🖥️
Strange Brew | Lets Get Wierd
Spin and Spark
Ever get bored watching your laundry spin, hoping for some excitement—besides finding that missing sock? Spin & Spark transforms a slow evening at the laundromat into a quirky speed-dating night. Folks show up with their dirty clothes, mingle in quick, timed chats while their wash cycle does its thing, and maybe find a new love interest before the spin cycle ends. Between rounds, everyone swaps partners, switches loads, and eventually leaves with fresh laundry and fresh connections. It’s part chore, part chance at romance, and 100% unique.
Why It Could Work
Built-In Crowd: Laundromats are already a local hub—why not make them a social scene?
Buzz Factor: “Speed-dating at a laundromat?!” is attention-grabbing enough for social media and local news coverage.
Revenue Boost: Charge a small entry fee, sell refreshments, and watch washers and dryers stay busy all night.
Community Vibe: It’s more than just cleaning clothes; it’s meeting neighbors, swapping stories, and maybe finding “the one” in the detergent aisle.
Spin & Spark turns a mundane task into a fun, flirty outing—because if you’re stuck doing laundry, you might as well spin for a shot at love.
Hustle Hack
Unsplash: Free Images That Look Pricier Than Your Mortgage
Need a crisp photo for your landing page, or a backdrop for that snazzy pitch deck? Unsplash is stacked with free, high-resolution images from photographers around the world. Whether it’s a moody skyline shot or a flat-lay of office supplies, you can grab and go—no messy licensing fees or watermarks. Perfect for the scrappy entrepreneur who’d rather funnel that extra cash into growth (or, y’know, a celebratory pizza).
The Big Score
Check out this episode of “How I Built This” where the daughter of the founder of the Mrs. Meyer’s talks about building and scaling the now household name. This story smells like success.
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