Bandit Blog Bandit Moves to Austin: 5 Reasons We Chose the Capital City

In case you’re new here, welcome to Bandit! We’re a contactless, app-only café that launched Summer 2019 in New York with an emphasis on locations within office buildings. We’re proud to serve delicious coffee, a full matcha bar, exciting new treats like ice cream, and a menu full of local offerings like Tacodeli breakfast tacos, pastries from Texas French Bread, and other treats from Easy Tiger. Long story short, we had to rethink our strategy due to COVID-19. We wanted to be in an area where people were spread out and the lifestyle was as laid back as Matthew McConaughey. That being said, we also weren’t quite ready to leave the big city vibes behind. Fast forward to Summer 2020 and we’re proud to call Austin home. 1. Experiment with Revolutionary Curbside & Drive-Thru Tech Our old home, NYC, is the most walkable city in the United States. Consequently, that meant there weren’t a lot of opportunities for us to truly capitalize on drive-thru and curbside service. With the drive-thru experience proving to be a pandemic necessity, our location put us at a disadvantage. One of the reasons we’re most excited about our expansion to Austin is the potential to include some amazing curbside and drive-thru tech into our downtown café on North Lamar. We plan on opening our flagship store at the end of September so come see what we’re all about.   2. Austin is Booming (Literally) Austin is currently the fastest growing city and the #1 place to live in the United States. Known as the “Live Music Capital of the World” and “Silicon Hills,” the city definitely lives up to its reputation. Bandit is ready to embrace Austin’s roots and “keep it weird” with a lot of fun, new projects in the works. 3. You Can Export “Cool” HereThe Bandit team has been on the hunt for a new HQ. We’re amped about choosing Austin as our new home base and ready to bring our one-of-a-kind ordering experience to the Lone Star State. We’re going full-on—wall murals, outdoor hangout space, food truck, the whole shebang. Big ideas are dreamt here. Brands are born here. Cult followings are created here. Trendsetters live here.Whether it was Twitter’s public debut at SXSW or some of the most renown brands getting their start here (Dell, Whole Foods Market, Kendra Scott, Alamo Drafthouse, Austin City Limits, Vrbo, and Outdoor Voices to name a few), Austin is the world’s top exporter of “cool.”  4. Austin Does Food & Coffee Right Local is big in Austin. Ever since our arrival, we’ve been partnering with some of the most prominent local partners and businesses in the area.If you see the Bandit truck parked, stop by and enjoy some coffee (beans courtesy of Little City Coffee Roasters) and an ice cream sandwich from the fan-favorite, Lick Honest Ice Creams.  5. Opportunity to Test New Products & Work with New PartnersAustin is a haven for creatives and techies alike. And when we think about it, that pretty much sums up our ambition as a brand. We’re a small but mighty team of entrepreneurs and self-starters who love coffee and have the goal of creating the café of the future.Bandit has been in the lab testing new products, from custom soft serve ice cream (with ingredients like cereal and candy), to coffee and matcha. Some of our favorites so far that you just might see in the store are the horchata latte, honey lavender matcha latte, and the iced sea salt caramel mocha latte.Come visit our (future) flagship store at 706 North Lamar or have our truck come to you—just text 512-590-7777, download the Bandit app, and we’ll make it happen 🦊 Download the Bandit App