Brighton students enjoy wild success with Round pub app

University of Sussex students Ethan Martin and Harry Soar are the brains behind new ordering app Round.

The app allows people to order their pints safely from their table, allowing them to maintain social distancing and avoid potentially transmitting coronavirus through cash or card payments.

With the pandemic luring pubs away from notes and coins, the Brighton firm has been inundated with interest from across the country.

The company recently signed deals with pub chain Greene King and Ei Group, the largest pub company in the UK.

But it also works with Brighton locals including The Mucky Duck, The Foundry, and The Crescent.

Pub chain Greene King has signed a deal with Round to use the app in its pubs

Launched two years ago in the Northfield Bar in Sussex University, Round now operates in hundreds of pubs across Britain.

So the last two months have been a scramble for the company to match exploding demand.

“I’ve always thought cash will eventually go,” said chief executive Ethan, 22.

“There’s no way in 20, 30 or 40 years people will be walking up to the bar and paying cash.

“My thought was it might not happen in the next year, but let’s start making the first steps.

“But back in 2018 we didn’t know Covid was going to arrive and set the scene.

“It’s opened up the whole market. Before, it was a bit niche. Now it’s almost a necessity.

“It’s transformed our business and the past few months have been a big shift.

“We’ve had to spend the last six to eight weeks scaling up to match the demand.”

Having started in university halls, the business has now moved into a shiny new office in Ship Street.

The app first launched in a University of Sussex student bar two years ago

And in two months Round has gone from employing 15 staff to 50.

But business is nothing new to Ethan.

He started his first hustle at age 13, offering to clear people’s lofts and sell their unwanted stuff on eBay in return for a 20 per cent cut of the sale.

Round’s success, however, is a whole new ball park.

The coronavirus pandemic has made apps such as Round nearly indispensable in the short term.

Still, Ethan and Harry hope this boom will be the springboard for their company to become an industry titan.

“When you think of transport you don’t think of 15 different apps, you think of Uber,” Ethan said.

“We want it to be that when you think of ordering, you think of Round.

“Whether you’re in barber shop or a cafe, a restaurant or a pub, we want Round to be there.

“Over the past two years, we have focused on developing a platform to digitally transform hospitality in a way that is accessible to all.

Chief executive Ethan Martin wants to make Round the Uber of ordering apps

“We are particularly excited Round will be part of the solution in navigating what the ‘new normal’ will look like in terms of business and social life.

“Although we can absolutely help with the new post-Covid world, we have much longer-term ambitions.

“We always want to improve our product and make sure we have the latest and best technology.

“I’m just so happy and thankful to the team, everyone’s been working so hard on this.”

Round is available on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store for Android.

• At The Argus, we are championing the work of traders during the coronavirus pandemic as part of our #BackingSussexBusiness campaign. We are always interested to hear how the community is coming together in this crisis. If you know of a local business battling to do all it can in these tough times and/or offering support to the local community, please get in touch at laurie.churchman@theargus.co.uk and rose.lock@theargus.co.uk.