Pressing Tab
Paying Your Bar Tab with Your Phone

It happens.

You’re at the bar, drinking a couple Shiners, and you get a text: “Queso tasting party at Cuban’s place—get here... now.”

Obviously, you’re in.

But there’s a problem: your tab’s open and the bar’s five people deep.

The solution: Tabbedout, an iPhone/Android app that lets you open and close your tab from your phone, available now in Dallas.

Now let’s back up a bit. This thing comes from a few suds-loving developers in Austin, and requires a pinch of prep work: getting the app, entering your credit card info and going to a bar. (We assume you can handle all this.) Then finally, when you open your tab, show your phone (and the code) to your waitress/bartender/cocktail butler.

So back to a certain billionaire sports team owner’s chip dip. Say you’re having the aforementioned beers at the Katy Trail Ice House (one of six bars listed in the app so far). As you sip pints and debate the merits of abandoning the euro, you’ll get the aforementioned text. It’s go time. As you put on your jacket, pull up this app, glance over the receipt and hit “Pay Tab.” Enter in a tip and boom: your bill is paid.

Cuban’s queso waits for no one.