New Fresno-based app aims to help you skip lines at bars by letting you order from your phone

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A new Fresno-based phone app wants to help you maximize your time at a bar by letting you order your drink from your phone.

Overflow, created by Fresno company Bixly, launched in two local bars in late 2018. The idea behind the app is simple: don't waste your time standing in line when you could be socializing while you wait instead.

"We're shooting for speed, so it's the idea that you don't want to spend a long time in the app," said Nick Wortley, CEO of Bixly Inc. "Your goal is you whip it out, order your drinks, put it back in your pocket and keep talking to your friends."

The idea came after one of Wortley's business partners had to wait 45 minutes to close out a tab at a bar. The app allows customers to order drinks from their seats, open and close tabs, and get notified when their drink is ready.

Customers who have the app simply have to select the bar they're in, click on the drink they want, select a payment and tip option, and then sit back and wait. Once it's submitted, the bartender gets a notification on their end of the app, and after they make the drink it's placed in a labeled box to protect it. Customers are then notified that the drink is made, and they're free to pick it up.

"All they gotta do is get up and walk over, it's already paid for and it's very convenient for them," said Strummer's general manager Brandon Duenas. The app launched first at Strummer's, and Duenas says it helps customers spend more time with friends and it helps bartenders stay more organized and keep the line going.

He says you can't just let your drink sit there; since customers pay in advance, the drink "expires" and will be thrown out after 15 minutes, so don't try ordering too far in advance.

Overflow is currently active at Strummer's and Veni Vidi Vici in the Tower District and will be expanding to Goldstein's this week. Wortley says their next goal is to get into 20 bars in Fresno and see where the app takes them from there.

"Long term goal: California, the nation, we're doing this large scale. But the first goal is Fresno," Wortley said.

The app is free for both customers and bars themselves, something that Wortley says separates them from similar apps that have been launched in the past. For more on Bixly, click here.