Square Uses Geolocation To Keep Coffee Hot

Square is merging the two things every payments geek needs: geolocation and making sure that your coffee is served hot and fresh. (For many payments firms, “fresh” is measured in months, but let’s not go there.)

The grounds of the concept are easy to pour: Instead of processing a coffee order when it’s received, the system applies data to the Java. Square’s software knows the location of the merchant, the location of the customer’s mobile device, the traffic in that area at the time and how long the merchant thinks it takes to prep that specific beverage. The software alerts the merchant when to make the drink. It certainly doesn’t guarantee hot coffee will be waiting—among other things, the merchant might be extremely busy at that moment—but it makes it much more likely.

The name of this feature is Arrival Prediction and it’s being added to Square Order, which earlier this year replaced the discontinued Square Wallet. It’s being trialed in San Francisco and New York City.

“By integrating with its Register app, pre-orders placed by customers will appear just like regular orders that were placed at the counter. Orders can be set to either show up on Register or be automatically printed out as an order ticket so the kitchen or barista can prepare them,” TechCrunch reported. “In addition to predicting when a customer is set to arrive, the app also gets to know users based on their common orders. That way, when customers open the app, it will suggest previous orders so they don’t have to go through the trouble of specifying a double cappuccino with low-fat milk and cinnamon each time.”