Starbucks Virtual Assistant Now Exists For Taking Orders

As one of the most popular beverage franchises in the world, anything that Starbucks does has the potential to make huge waves. Recently, the coffee craze pioneer unveiled Barista, which is a virtual assistant that will take the orders of users without having to line up. All customers have to do is tell the service what they want in plain language and pick up the beverage once it has been prepared.

Barista is only available to a small number of users with iOS devices, BGR reports, in order to work out some of the kinks that are likely still in the system. It’s basically an extension to the app that Starbucks is already offering, which can also be used to place orders. The problem with the app option is that people can be too lazy to browse through menu items, and simply telling the virtual assistant their order is much easier.

It would also appear that Starbucks is working with Amazon in order to integrate Barista with Alexa so that users can just replicate their orders for when they want to have it the next time around. Users of Barista could then place their usual order through the Amazon Echo or the Echo Dot, with payments being handled by the Starbucks app.

The coffee chain actually made its intention to release a voice-activated virtual assistant during its last Investor Day event, TechCrunch, stating that the service would be made available for beta testing in early 2017. It would seem that Starbucks came through with its promise.

Although Barista is only available to about a thousand iOS users right now, the company states that an Android version will also be released sometime in the future. It’s a fortuitous time for Starbucks to jump on the virtual assistant bandwagon, ensuring that it carves a place for itself in the emerging market.