About the Challenge

Coffee shops are the heartbeat of campus life — but behind every perfect latte is a pipeline of operations that could use a serious upgrade. At BeanHacks, your challenge is to design and build an innovative solution that improves the efficiency of real coffee shop operations. Think ordering systems, inventory management, staff workflows, customer experience, wait times — if it happens behind or in front of the counter, it's fair game.

This hackathon is open to all college students. No matter your major or skill level, if you've got an idea and the drive to build it, you belong here.

Get Started

The best ideas come from lived experience. Start by reflecting on your own coffee shop visits — the long lines, the mix-up orders, the clunky payment process. What frustrated you? What slowed things down? What made you think "there has to be a better way"?

Once you've found your problem, hit the ground running. Form your team, define your solution, and start building something worth shipping.

Requirements

What to Build

Your project should directly address a real operational challenge faced by coffee shops today. This could be a mobile app, web platform, hardware prototype, AI tool, or any creative solution that improves how a café runs. Strong projects will be practical, innovative, and something a real coffee shop owner could actually see themselves using.

Some areas to explore:

  • Order management & queue reduction
  • Inventory tracking & waste reduction
  • Staff scheduling & communication
  • Customer loyalty & experience
  • Payment & checkout flow
  • Sales analytics & forecasting

What to Submit

When you're ready to submit, make sure you have the following:

  • Project name & tagline — a short, punchy description of what you built
  • Demo video — a 2–3 minute walkthrough of your solution in action
  • Slide deck — covering the problem, your solution, and why it works
  • GitHub repository — with your code and a clear README
  • Written description — explain the problem you tackled, how your solution works, and the impact it could have

All submissions must be made through the event platform before the deadline

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

1 non-cash prize
Best Bean!
1 winner

Just for fun and to build a cool project! :)

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

UC Berkeley Students

UC Berkeley Students

Judging Criteria

  • Innovation
    How creative and original is the idea? Does it approach the problem in a fresh, unexpected way, or does it feel like something that already exists? 25 points
  • Impact
    Does the solution address a real, meaningful problem faced by coffee shops? How significantly would it improve operations if deployed? 25 points
  • Feasibility
    Could this realistically be built and adopted by a coffee shop? Judges will consider technical soundness, cost, and ease of implementation. 20 points
  • Execution
    How polished and functional is the demo? A working prototype, clean UI, and thoughtful user experience will score higher than a concept alone. 20 points
  • Presentation
    How clearly and compellingly did the team communicate their idea? Judges will evaluate the clarity of the pitch, demo video, and slide deck. 10 points

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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