Hi, coffee lovers! A new app helps you buy a cup for friends, family, and strangers.

Ryan Puno
11.03.16

There's just something innately special about a hot cup of coffee.

(Or a cold one! Iced lattes are awesome too, if that's more your speed.)

Coffee obviously picks you up when you have a case of the sleepyheads. But if you think about it, it picks you up emotionally as well. I mean, why else are coffee breaks and coffee dates a thing?

And remember that story about the Starbucks employee paying it forward and giving free cups of coffee to Chelsea first responders? Surefire pick-me-up!

Well, one savvy entrepreneur is looking to blend the special something that coffee brings into an amazing app.

It's called Nack and it lets you buy coffee for anyone, anywhere. It's the brainchild of Paul Haun, a Rhode Island native who quit his job in finance to grow his new innovation full-time. He credits his cousin, former NHL player Tom Cavanagh, who sadly passed away in 2011, for inspiring him to pursue his passion.

Interestingly enough, he came up with the idea for Nack thanks to — you guessed it — a coffee run.

All images via Nack, used with permission.

"I would always think to grab a cup of coffee for a friend, assistant, or client, but asking and remembering how they like it is a hassle," says Haun. "By the time someone responds to a text or a quick call, it’s too late."

After noticing this gap in the market, Haun set out to create an app that saves your coffee preferences for those exact kinds of moments. But something was still missing. Haun was looking for a better hook to make Nack a bigger part of anyone's sacred coffee routine.

The idea? Why not offer free coffee? And even better, why not be able to send it to anyone?

Nack is all about spreading kindness and supplying random acts of coffee.

The app allows you to send coffee to a friend, family member, or coworker — all you do is pay for it in the app and the recipient can claim their coffee from select partners. The app also allows you to perform a random act of coffee by purchasing a cup of coffee for any user to claim. Haun describes it as sort of a digital way to buy coffee for the person behind you in line.

"Say you're in the drive-thru and you say, 'Hey, I'll grab this guy's coffee.' Doesn't matter if the guy's driving a Mercedes. You just feel like, 'Hey, this guy doesn't know what's coming. I'm just going to perform this random act of kindness,'" Haun describes.

The best part? You can even include a little message from the heart.

Thanks to tech like this, it's now that much easier to brighten someone else's day.

"We’re going to start to eventually give users some more options where you could say, 'I want to gift a random coffee to a person in this state, a random male or female,'" says Haun.

But Nack isn't stopping there.

"We’re working here now in my hometown in Rhode Island where now users are going to be able to gift a coffee to a random teacher, a random police officer, a fireman. We’re working with the city departments now to make that happen," adds Haun.

"It’s all about sharing random acts of kindness."

culture internet culture good deeds kindness technology coffee apps sharing phone app
More
True
Cricket Wireless2

Former McDonald's employee admits to giving everyone an extra nugget and now he's a hero

BXGD / Flickr and Cody Bondarchuk / Twitter

Sometimes the smallest gesture can turn your entire day around. You find a $5 bill in the pockets of your jeans. There's no traffic on the way home from work. Or by some divine intervention, you get 11 chicken McNuggets in your 10-piece box.

Of course, if you've ever had such a blessing, you know your first thought is, "Must be some sort of mistake."

But do you return the extra McNugget? Nope. You don't even feel an ounce of guilt for it. You dunk it in barbecue sauce and relish it like a gift from the gods.

A former McDonald's employee in Edmonton, Canada let the world know that sometimes an extra McNugget is not a mistake and he's become a viral hero.

Keep Reading Show less
fast food mcdonalds heroes
popular

'No Phones, New Friends Friday' school lunch policy is making teens kinder — and less lonely

terimakasih0/Pixabay

When Iowa Valley Junior-Senior High School principal Janet Behrens observed her students in the cafeteria, she was dismayed to see that they spent more time looking down at their phones than they did looking at and interacting with each other. So last year, she implemented a new policy that's having a big impact.

Keep Reading Show less
teens school loneliness social media kindness inclusion cell phones
popular

A mom couldn't stand her teenage son teasing poor kids so she came up with the perfect punishment

Facebook / Cierra Brittany Forney

Children in middle school can be super shallow when it comes to fashion. To be part of the in-crowd, you have to wear the right shoes and brand-name clothing, and listen to the right music.

The sad thing is that kids that age can be so creative, but they're forced into conformity by their peers.

Some people never escape this developmental phase and spend their entire lives wasting their money on material goods and judging those who do not or can not.

Keep Reading Show less
popular

Teachers are sharing epic quotes from little kids, and they're so wholesome and hilarious

Live from Snack Time/Instagram

They say that kids say the darnedest things, and seriously, they do. Anyone who has spent any significant amount of time with young children knows that sometimes the things they say can blow your mind.

Since teachers spend more time around little kids than anyone else, they are particularly privy to their profound and hilarious thoughts. That's why NYC kindergarten teacher Alyssa Cowit started collecting kid quotes from teachers around the country and sharing them on her Instagram account, Live from Snack Time, as well as her websiteand other social media channels.

Keep Reading Show less
popular