The Beat the Q app allows consumers to order takeaway coffee ahead of time
A new Australian phone app that allows users to order and pay for coffee en-route to their regular cafe — to ‘Beat the Q’ — has been launched in Australia.
Using a smartphone or computer, users of the Beat the Q app can select their favourite cafe and place an order from a customised menu with a credit card or PayPal account. The app allows cafes and coffee shops to have consumers’ orders ready for pickup when the customer walks in the door, having already paid, speeding the process up for everyone involved.
The Beat the Q developers said that the app has so far “served up over half a million coffees to busy Aussies looking to skip long and frustrating queues by ordering ahead”.
Expanding to food
The success of the app has seen it expand to include food orders as well, so users can now have a takeaway cafe breakfast ready on arrival along with their morning coffee, according to the Beat the Q developers. An entire office can also place one collective order and still pay individually.
There are no additional costs for consumers for using the app, but participating cafes pay a $33 monthly fee for the service.
“Whether you’re running late, low on case, or just too tied up with work to waste time queuing, Beat the Q takes the hassle out of the whole process,” said Adam Theobald, Beat the Q founder and CEO.
Cafe coffee consumption on the rise
Australian Food News reported in June 2013 that coffee consumption — especially fresh coffee — was increasing. Making the takeaway process quicker and easier for consumers could mean cafes and coffee shops attract new regular customers, who might otherwise have no time to get even a takeaway coffee.
In October 2013, Australian Food News reported that coffee franchise Gloria Jean’s Coffees had opened its first drive through coffee house in Queensland — a different approach to capturing time-poor consumers who might otherwise skip coffee.
App also popular outside of city CBD
The Beat the Q developers said the app was not “only a city CBD thing”, and that some of its busiest outlets included suburban ones such as Dose Espresso in the Sydney North Shore suburb Willoughby.
