The challenge: a website provider that could not keep up
The Mayfly is a neighborhood cocktail pub at 269 East Houston Street on New York City's Lower East Side, known for cocktails, pints, casual food and a steady private-party business. Birthdays, baby showers, office functions and other celebrations are an important part of its revenue.
The team had been working with SpotHopper, but when it needed a website change, a new page or help promoting something important, updates did not happen with the speed or flexibility it needed.
The bigger problem was private events. The Mayfly wanted parties at the center of its online strategy, but its setup did not give it the control to build the landing pages, messaging and follow-up that takes. Private-event demand was there. The system around it was not.
The first move: rebuild around private events
The Mayfly switched to Derby Digital in August 2025 with a clear goal: a website and sales process that attract more qualified event inquiries, make it easy for guests to take the next step, and come with real support after launch.
Derby started with a full rebuild. Instead of treating private parties as one small menu item, we made them a core conversion path, with clear calls to action and a dedicated party inquiry experience.
We built landing pages and funnels around the events people were already looking to book. The party page speaks directly to guests planning birthdays, baby showers, office functions and other celebrations, then collects what the team needs to respond: contact details, party size, date, time, occasion and special requests.
Derby also connected the reporting stack, so the team could see where traffic and inquiries came from. DerbyFlow worked alongside Google Analytics and Google Search Console to attribute results instead of guessing.
What happened when more inquiries came in
The new site and funnels did their job. The Mayfly received more event inquiries, organic traffic increased, Google visibility improved and the people entering the funnel were better qualified.
That success exposed a new problem. The team was spending too much time working through a growing number of inquiries, and more leads only help if a venue can respond quickly, answer questions and move serious prospects forward. This is where the work changed from a website project into an ongoing operating system.
The adaptation: an AI concierge and an automated event funnel
Rather than ask a busy staff to force their way through it, Derby adapted the system. We built a custom AI concierge that handles the early stages of a private-event conversation: it responds to prospective guests, answers common questions, collects the details needed to qualify the inquiry and guides the guest to the right next step.
Behind it, the automated funnel keeps things moving. New inquiries get timely responses, qualified prospects move toward a calendar booking and deposit without the venue chasing every step, and the CRM keeps every conversation organized so the team spends its time where a human conversation matters most.
The result: 28% more private-event inquiries
In the first year after the switch, from August 2025 through August 2026, The Mayfly recorded a 28% increase in private-event inquiries, tracked through DerbyFlow together with Google Analytics and Google Search Console. It also saw stronger organic traffic, higher Google visibility and better lead quality through the event funnels.
The 28% is the headline, but the operational change matters just as much. The Mayfly did not simply receive more inquiries. It gained a better way to capture, answer, qualify, organize and convert them.
Everything we changed
- Rebuilt the website around the real growth priority: private events
- Created dedicated event landing pages and conversion funnels
- Improved calls to action and the party inquiry experience
- Connected DerbyFlow, Google Analytics and Google Search Console for tracking
- Built a custom CRM process to organize incoming opportunities
- Added an AI concierge to answer questions and run the early conversation
- Automated follow-up, calendar booking and deposit steps
- Kept adapting the system after launch as inquiry volume grew
The Mayfly did not leave SpotHopper because it needed a different-looking homepage. It needed faster support, more control, and a system built around the revenue it cared about most.
One year after the switch, private-event inquiries were up 28%. The venue was easier to find, the leads were stronger, and the team had a faster way to move people from first interest to a booked event.
