The Pop Ups Please team. | Pop Ups Please Pop Ups Please helps businesses promote events and helps community members find out about them In May 2024, Francisco Morales and Alexandra Peter were sitting at Too Soon enjoying drinks from cocktail pop-up Mi Amor and food by their friend, chef Poncho Morales. They had almost missed the event, but happened to catch wind of it when another friend posted it to her Instagram story. As they reflected on how difficult it is to keep up with all the events around the city, the idea for their community-driven app Pop-Ups Please was formed — the two sketched out a plan on a napkin right at the bar. “It’s just so easy to miss things, even when you’re following folks,” Morales says. “There’s so much content being thrown at your feet at all times, and depending on your interests, some things you’ll never see ’til after the event passes.” The Pop-Ups Please app, which is now in beta, uses a straightforward interface for event organizers to post events and for folks to discover them. Users can filter events geographically or chronologically, or use the randomizing feature. Although many existing platforms list events, Morales says none of them are tailored to the ephemeral nature of pop-ups. The app is also integrated with iCal, Google Calendar, Apple Maps, and Google Maps for further convenience. “We wanted to make something that was going to be quick to update, easy to use, and accessible,” Morales says. The team brought on chief technology officer Zach Babb, who was a lead developer of TriMet’s tickets app, to build out the app for Pop-Ups Please. Xóchitl Jaime-Aguirre, who has worked in the food industry in various capacities, consults on the project. Jaime-Aguirre points out that with apps such as Instagram, users have to already be following specific chefs or restaurants to find out about certain events, but Pop Ups Please aims to put everybody in the know, whether users are avid followers of pop-ups or folks looking for something fun to do on the fly. Morales and Peter have been passionate about empowering small businesses and creatives for years. They started in the art world with their gallery Walk In, treating exhibitions as fun events beyond the art on the walls. Eventually, they incorporated a design studio with the same name, helping small food and beverage businesses like Nico’s Ice Cream, Bar Cala, and Fried Egg I’m In Love with branding and design work. Although the bulk of events on Pop-Ups Please will be food-related, the team isn’t limiting the types of events that the app lists. “If you have a bike workshop or whatever, we want this to be something for small businesses and community organizers to feel that they can use,” Jaime-Aguirre says. “We just want to be able to bring more awareness to all the cool people doing cool shit and creating the culture in Portland.” Jaime-Aguirre references chefs Naomi Pomeroy and Lauro Romero, who both passed away this year, and who both changed the face of Portland’s food scene starting with their pop-ups. Creating a platform that could help sustain the pop-up industry was another motivator for Peter, now the CEO, and Morales, chief of community engagement. They recognized that beyond entrepreneurs wanting an outlet to flex their creativity, pop-ups are also trending because they serve as incubators that have less contractual overhead. With Pop-Ups Please, the hope is that businesses won’t have to spend as much on marketing or other tools. The team is collecting feedback from all users who have utilized the beta version, but they are also working directly with chefs and event producers like Roux Portland to see how they can modify the app to cater to their needs. “We’re making a point to say, ‘Who are the experts in this field? And how do we partner with them to make sure we’re building a platform that works?’” Morales says. Pop-Ups Please will have a launch party on November 9 at the 2nd and Salmon event space.