{"id":40034,"date":"2025-11-07T09:57:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T14:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=40034"},"modified":"2025-11-14T12:35:58","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T17:35:58","slug":"magazine-pal-atable-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/magazine-pal-atable-idea\/","title":{"rendered":"Pal-atable Idea"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine sitting in a restaurant where you\u2019ve never eaten, looking at a menu you\u2019ve never seen and perusing a wine list that has words you\u2019ve never read, let alone said out loud.<\/strong> It\u2019s intimidating, it\u2019s nerve-wracking and, for so many people, it\u2019s something best avoided.<\/p>\n

Conor Dowler \u201924 saw that scenario plenty growing up. His parents made careers in restaurant service, management and ownership. That environment is a second home to him. He was raised to read a dining room and understand what a customer needed before they even knew it themselves. It also led him to a passion for good food, good experiences and good wine.<\/p>\n

That passion grew as the business major approached graduation in 2024 and what he learned at Furman University immediately went from vision to reality in the form of Palate Pal.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Conor Dowler \u201924 pitches his business idea for Palate Pal during Paladin Pitch in the Watkins Room of the Trone Student Center. Photo by Nathan Gray.<\/p><\/div>\n

A Spark at Furman<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When Dowler enrolled in an entrepreneurship class at Furman, he didn\u2019t expect to create a business that would begin changing the way people interact with wine lists at restaurants.He simply followed his interest in marketing and then followed a hunch.<\/p>\n

As part of the course, his class visited a local wine shop in Travelers Rest, South Carolina. The owner shared his struggles with digital marketing, and Dowler started thinking about ways technology could support small, independently owned shops. One idea led to another.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was thinking, I wish there was a way I could just go on a website and say, \u2018I\u2019m having filet tonight, what wine should I get?\u2019\u201d Dowler says. \u201cYou can Google pairings, but then it\u2019s like, OK, where do I find that bottle? And will I even like it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dowler envisioned something more intuitive, more interactive and a lot more personal. The idea for Palate Pal was born.<\/p>\n

Turning a Problem into a Platform<\/strong><\/h3>\n

At its core, Palate Pal is a wine recommendation engine for restaurants that uses a short survey, Dowler\u2019s own experience and artificial intelligence to suggest wines based on what a customer ordered and the restaurant\u2019s wine list. After scanning a QR code at the table, diners answer a handful of tailored questions: Are they ordering lunch or dinner? A glass or a bottle? Do they prefer red or white? Are they eating seafood, steak, pasta or something else entirely?<\/p>\n

Palate Pal then generates three personalized wine recommendations, including tasting notes, food pairings and even pronunciation help. The goal is to make wine lists more accessible and less intimidating.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a personal problem I was trying to solve,\u201d Dowler says. \u201cEven growing up around wine, I\u2019d go out to eat, look at a wine list and feel completely unsure. I built Palate Pal for people like me; people who want to enjoy wine but don\u2019t always know where to start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dowler made it clear early on that he wasn\u2019t trying to replace sommeliers or override restaurant expertise. In fact, he believes Palate Pal can assist both when customers feel a little better about speaking up on their preferences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m trying to do is give people a little confidence,\u201d he says. \u201cLet them feel good about ordering wine, whether they\u2019re new to it or just looking for something different.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A

Palate Pal uses the wine list and menu of partner restaurants and pairs each to the users tastes and cravings. Photo by Jeremy Fleming ’08.<\/p><\/div>\n

Refining Through the Pitch<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Dowler began to develop the business more seriously during Furman\u2019s 2024 Paladin Pitch competition, hosted by the Hill Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. His idea earned the Crowd Choice award, and more importantly, it gave him valuable feedback and direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey really helped me treat it like a real business,\u201d he says. \u201cYou don\u2019t just show up and pitch. You work through your idea, answer hard questions, refine your plan. It made me want to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time he graduated, Dowler had built a functioning demo, assembled a database of wines and restaurant menus, and launched beta tests with local restaurants. And he did it all in between managing a coffee shop in Charleston, South Carolina, and driving back to the Upstate for client pitches.<\/p>\n

One of the first people he pitched the idea to outside of Furman was longtime family friend and restaurateur Bill Nickas, owner and executive chef of Sullivan\u2019s Metropolitan Grill in Anderson, South Carolina.<\/p>\n

Testing the Vision<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Nickas listened to Dowler\u2019s pitch over coffee and was intrigued. \u201cI really think you\u2019re on to something,\u201d he told him.<\/p>\n

After a second meeting and a working demo, Nickas agreed to a three-month pilot at Sullivan\u2019s. Nickas says the idea \u201cwas simple and smart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nickas, a veteran in the restaurant industry, understood the challenge Palate Pal was designed to solve. \u201cWine still intimidates people,\u201d he says. \u201cEven though people are more relaxed about rules \u2013 like red with meat, white with fish \u2013 they still feel unsure. Some don\u2019t want to ask the server because they don\u2019t know how to describe what they like.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pilot worked. Customers began using the tool. Staff got excited. And Nickas signed on for another six-month commitment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re definitely seeing an increase in wine sales,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd our servers like it, too. It frees them up during a busy night and gives them a new way to interact with guests.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Conor Dowler \u201924 shows client and owner
of Sullivan\u2019s Metropolitan Grill, Bill Nickas,
some options on the Palate Pal app. Photo by Jeremy Fleming ’08.<\/p><\/div>\n

Building Toward the Future<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Since the launch, Dowler has rolled out Palate Pal at a handful of restaurants and is in talks with more across the Carolinas. He\u2019s working on improving functionality, particularly around instantaneous feedback so customers no longer need to receive suggestions by email. He also hopes to develop the app for Apple\u2019s App Store and Google Play, add wine-tracking features and expand into beer and cocktail recommendations.<\/p>\n

Palate Pal also provides back-end data for restaurants, showing what customers are choosing, what they\u2019re pairing with meals and what characteristics they prefer. Dowler believes that information is something restaurants could use more of.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much potential,\u201d Dowler says. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about wine anymore. It\u2019s about creating a smart, seamless dining experience, and one that benefits both the guest and the restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Conor Dowler \u201924 strives to make wine more approachable to diners everywhere with Palate Pal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":389,"featured_media":39727,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,60,3484,3496,1963,3065,81],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-alumni-profiles","category-fall-2025","category-feature-fall-2025","category-furman-magazine","category-hill-institute-for-innovation-and-entrepreneurship","category-innovation-and-entrepreneurship"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/389"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40034"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40285,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40034\/revisions\/40285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}