Morgan Butler
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There’s a new app in development that could allow you to skip the line next time you get coffee.
The concept for the app, Expresso, came from Startup Weekend — the team’s pitch was for an app that would allow a user to order coffee right from their phone and pick it up when it’s ready, skipping the line.
While the competition only required a mock-up, the team of five Cal Poly students decided to go a step further and create the app.
“The idea of the app is the minimal amount of clicks you would need to get your coffee,” programmer and biomedical engineering senior Michael Dewitt said. “So you’ve picked your store, and now all within one screen, you are able to customize as many drinks as you want, add them to your order and then check out — all right there.”
With their business pitch, the Expresso team earned second place in the competition, but the team is looking to take the app even further.
“What Expresso is trying to do is make it so it opens mom-and-pop shops everywhere,” interface designer and graphic communication freshman Cameron Oelsen said. “We’re starting in San Luis Obispo, but we’re going to try to open up the mobile pace for coffee shops everywhere.”
The team hopes its unique design sets it apart from other coffee shop apps available.
“What we’re trying to deliver, though, is much more user-coffee shop interaction,” Dewitt said. “For example, you place your order, but then you’re also notified when it’s being made (and) the barista is receiving a picture of you. So you’re not losing any of that interaction you would get from going to the store — you’re just skipping the line.”
The first coffee shop in San Luis Obispo to use Expresso will be the downtown location of Blackhorse Espresso and Bakery.
The team is also trying to implement the app at Julian’s Patisserie in the Robert E. Kennedy Library, and hopes to launch Expresso by the end of the school year.