Life On-Demand: Skip the line, order online

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A smartphone equipped with the right apps can make life easier in a number of ways. The latest advance is letting people skip the lines and get their orders on-demand.

Moxie’s in downtown Tampa even lets you skip the app download. When customers connect to the restaurant’s WiFi, the Moxie’s menu pops up in a window on the device. Customers can seat themselves and order online. Then someone brings your order right to your table.

The technology is called TorchFi. Its creator, Anup Balagopal said the idea came from a common frustration of many business owners.

“[Customers] don't want to stand in line and place an order, so we have changed that,” Balagopal explained.

The system allows diners to pay and leave a tip, and can even remember a customer’s favorite items on the menu for their next visit.

Moxie’s owner Bob Carr said he adopted the system after he noticed customers – sometimes loyal regulars - getting out of long lines and leaving the store.

“It gets crazy busy, like, line out the door,” Carr told FOX 13 News. “Not only are the people that go right to the table skipping the line but the lines just got shorter for everybody else

Moxie’s is testing the TorchFi system as part of a partnership with Tampa Bay Wave, a non-profit helping more than 150 tech businesses and 250 entrepreneurs develop their products and services.

The idea of skipping the line and ordering online is not brand new. Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Pizza Hut and even McDonald’s have online and app-based ordering systems. The differences offered by TorchFi allow restaurants and businesses more control over the process, as well as giving customers the freedom to skip downloading yet another app, taking up valuable storage space on their devices.

TorchFi said it hopes to expand its product to sporting events and concerts.