Party on: booze apps deliver the goods

Services put paid to the idea of nursing your drink, writes

WHAT happens when you run out of alcohol at a gettogether but no one wants to do the booze run? Well, as the Apple catch phrase goes, there’s an app for that.

Bottles, an alcohol delivery app which was launched in February, is the biggest of three services in South Africa that bring booze to your door.

Simply enter your location and payment details, place an order for the beverages you’d like and before the hour is up, the drinks are delivered.

Founders Enrico Ferigolli, Vincent Viviers and Martina Mondelli hit on the idea at a braai last year.

“We ran out of drinks. Since we had all been drinking, we could not drive to a bottle store,” Ferigolli said.

Then they wondered: “What if there was an app that delivered drinks to your door?”

Less than a year later the trio launched Bottles.

“Who hasn’t wanted to press a button and have drinks magically appear?” Ferigolli said.

Bottles, which has filled more than 3 000 orders in its first six months, is available on iOS and Android. It promises to deliver in less than an hour and a fee of R50 kicks in after the first order.

The service is available in 45 suburbs in Johannesburg, 25 in Cape Town, five in Durban and 20 in Pretoria.

ID verification is required and it’s a cashless service, so anyone over 18 with a credit or debit card can use the app to order wine, spirits and beer.

You pay on delivery and can split the bill with friends who have the app.

DopDrop, a similar idea, is a web-based platform available to users within a 5km radius of Bryanston in Johannesburg.

Founded by Mhlanganisi Madlongolwana and Khwezi Kondile, DopDrop was launched in October.

Madlongolwana said he and Kondile came up with the idea late one night after returning from a trip to Zimbabwe.

“We were at a drive-thru joking about what a condom delivery service would look like — imagine all the stories you could tell if you ran such a business,” he said.

“From that came the idea of an alcohol delivery service.”

DopDrop charges a fee depending on the distance to the delivery address and promises to relieve your thirst within 59 minutes. ON TAP: If you’re running dry, no need to make a booze run. Just pick up your phone

Madlongolwana said DopDrop was still on a learning curve.

Its first customer, Ayabonga Nase, said a colleague had told him about the service — via a WhatsApp message.

“I was just chilling at home and I was too lazy to go out,” Nase said.

“His order for beer was delivered within 45 minutes and he is now a regular user.

“I’ve also used it for a staff party, when no one really felt like making a trip to the bottle store,” he said.

DopDrop is developing an app for iOS, Windows Phone and Android and plans to expand the service in Johannesburg and introduce it in other cities.

DopDrop and Bottles partner with bottle stores in the areas in which they operate, but the Eastern Cape-based Yolo Mobile Bar app does things a little differently.

“We’re a virtual bottle store,” said co-founder Andile Africa.

Yolo keeps its own stock and had to acquire a liquor licence before the app (available on iOS and Android) was launched.

Prices include delivery and the service operates after 8pm.

Africa, who co-founded Yolo Mobile Bar with Buntu Mati, said: “It’s not the first time that an app like this exists, but it’s the first time for the Eastern Cape and East London.

“It’s about time something good came out from East London.”

Disclosure: Martina Mondelli is employed by TMG, which owns Sunday Times