Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ty Sondag. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Ty, thanks for joining us today. Finding those key vendors can often be make or break for a brand. Can you talk to us about how you found your key vendors?

Finding what we now refer to as our ‘bar partners’ was nothing short of a brute force effort over a series of months. Either during my lunch breaks or immediately after work, I’d walk from my day job’s downtown office to 3-4 different bars in downtown Denver with my one page sales sheets in hand and ask to speak to the manager on duty. The hierarchy involved with some of the establishments I walked into was similar to that of corporate jobs in some case: levels and levels of supervisors or assistant managers. The difficulty involved in breaking through to the true decision maker, usually the general manager, was truly surprising. Eventually though, usually after 1-2 visits I was able to make the connection, give my 30-second pitch, shake hands, and seal the deal.

That being said, the road of getting to the set of bar partners we have now was a long one filled with all of the metaphorical potholes and obstacles you could imagine. From messages not getting passed along to staff and us showing up to bars seemingly unannounced to constantly changing COVID restrictions and limitations, we were constantly in flux for the greater part of 18+ months. Over time, we developed better and true win-win relationships with our bar partners that have flourished, and we couldn’t be more thankful. Especially through COVID, there were nights that our crawlers were the only patrons in the bar. Though sad to see at the time, our partnerships became more and more symbiotic.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Denver Pub Crawl was born as an idea to bring an international experience to downtown Denver. After returning from a 6+ month trip to 17 countries around the world and experiencing pub crawls in each and everyone, I moved to Denver, discovered Lodo, and knew the neighborhood would be a perfect fit.

Denver Pub Crawl operates in an “international style,” one you’d find in cities like Paris, Barcelona, or Prague, for example. Instead of hundreds or even thousands of people, our crawls are much more intimate, interactive, and engaging with group sizes normally ranging from 20-5o people.

We held our first official crawl on Friday, Feb 5, 2020, almost exactly one month before COVID19 was declared an international pandemic. (It was the perfect time to start a business that brought strangers together in public places…) Much like most businesses centered around tourism or public venues, we were forced to shutter operations multiple times in 2020 and 2021. To say it’s been tough since then is an understatement. But we did it. We survived, and now we’re expanding – rapidly.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I was a junior in high school I had the opportunity to participate in a cultural diversity and leadership development program in Memphis, TN called Bridge Builders. The central focus and mission was to expose you, as an individual, to things, people, and places that were different than you and, in a very short amount of time, help you realize commonalities amongst your surroundings.

As a 16 year old white male, I suddenly found myself surrounded by people who looked different than me, who spoke different languages or practiced different religions than me, whose parents made more or less money than mine, and had different aspirations and motivations in life than me. But those two weeks spent withy my small group in one of the most racially- and financially-segregated cities in the country was life-changing.

Fast forward a decade and, as I travel the world, I begin finding myself on pub crawls with people completely different than me – people who don’t speak English or have ever had a McDonald’s hamburger, for example. A certain beauty also begins to show itself though. Everyone there, regardless of where they’re from, how much money they have in their bank account, or who they kiss, is there to have a great time and meet new people in a friendly, welcoming, and fun environment.

That’s the exact same culture and atmosphere we’ve brought to what we do in the US, and we couldn’t be prouder.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Imagine starting a company that brings strangers together in public places a month before an international pandemic hits. Then imagine that your new business can only operate when the venues that you physically operate in are open and able to accommodate you. Then imagine that the rules and regulations that govern these venues change, sometimes radically and without warning, every few months.

That was us for our first year and a half in business, and though we were no outliers to troubles so many other service and hospitality-based companies experienced, as a brand new company with four weeks of operations under our belts, the ups and downs were tough. Very tough.

Thankfully, we had structured our business model to be extremely agile with overhead of only a few hundred dollars per month, so we were able to take and roll with most of the ‘hits’ that came our way, something some other businesses weren’t able to do, of course.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://crawldenver.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denverpubcrawl/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CrawlDenver/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylersondag/