Now there are mobile applications and there are mobile applications, but this is one that we particularly like the look of. MyQbuster, from the company of the same name, is a mobile application that enables consumers to order drinks in a pub via their mobile phone.
To use the service, you first need to register via the MyQbuster website, after which you are sent a link to the MyQbuster mobile Internet site (https://www.myqb.co.uk). You can register via the mobile site too. Then, when youre in a bar displaying the MyQbuster logo, visit the mobile site, enter the code printed on the posters and barmats in the pub to enable the service to identify which outlet youre in, then place your order via the menu. The service works by displaying each outlets drinks menu, in order to take account of different pubs menus and prices.
When the order has been placed, payment is processed via Metacharge, with the payment for the round, plus a 10% service charge, taken from the users pre-registered credit or debit card. The order is then sent to the bar from MyQbusters servers via a broadband link, with just a 3-second delay between checkout and the order being received at the bar.
The bar staff then acquire the order and prepare the round of drinks, and press a soft button on the till to confirm when the order is ready. This sends an authorisation code to the users phone via SMS, which is duplicated on a printed receipt. So long as the user can show the bar staff that the code on the phone matches the one on the receipt, the drinks are handed over. The drinks are delivered to the customers table, or, if theres no waiting service, can be picked up from a queue-free collection area.
MyQBuster Founder Richard Price says he came up with the idea when he and some friends found themselves waiting for ages to get served in a wine bar. The service is, for the moment, somewhat limited by the fact that it is only available in two pubs, the 317 on Finchley Road in London, and The North Star, which is in the same neck of the woods, close to Finchley Rd tube station. But Price insists that the pub chains are interested in the idea.
When we showed them a prototype last year, they all loved it, but they told us they needed to see it working for real he says. Now we have it up and running in two outlets initially, so we have a lot of meetings lined up to show them to show them where were at.