The expansion of the ambit of mobile applications can be staggering or even incredible, at times. Among the interesting apps receiving attention in India are some apps which help you order a drink at affordable prices at a restaurant or bar. These apps go by different names, like HipBar, HipCask and also The Bar Stock Exchange. All of them are start-ups and one or two of them have been around for more than a year now, but it really makes for interesting reading how these apps work. Lets take a detailed look at two of them.
The HipCask app
To simplify the way the HipCask app operates, the user, after downloading the app, can obtain what they call a ‘passport’ which facilitates the user to buy the booze he or she wants, across places, at pre-paid rates. The concept is that you are insulated from the kind of fluctuations that the liquor prices witness and if you are a regular drinker, you would prefer to peg your monthly expenses to a certain level (pun intended). The passport offered by HipCask usually is good for a period of two months. The concept here is that the company behind the app ties up with the bars and restaurants across the city and based on these, they are able to offer their customers who download the app, discounted prices for the booze they order. The app is available on both Android and iOS-run play stores.
The Bar Stock Exchange
As mentioned, the prices of major liquor brands keep wildly fluctuating and the innovative promoters of this company have cashed in on this to offer some kind of a theme restaurant concept, which resembles a stock exchange. The promoters run bars and these have been styled into a replica of a stock exchange with LED screen displaying the prices of the liquor brands and the way they keep going up and down as the customers present at that time, place orders. You can download the app to your smartphone and order when the price comes down and wait when it is on an upward curve or be physically present in the bar to consume the drink. The description says the resemblance to a typical stock market is complete with ‘market crashes’ and so on.
The promoters have deployed the latest technology including algorithms to automatically regulate the fluctuation of the prices based on the basic demand and supply concept. And they allow trading of the drinks also to add to the fun.
Limitations of the Apps
Both these apps have a very limited scope at the current moment in terms of the geographic spread where the customers can download and avail them. Only the coming days may reveal how successful they are and how rapidly they scale their operations to reach other parts of the country. Till then, you may have to be content with your favourite watering hole.