Beginning this December, 150 Starbucks shops in the Portland, Oregon area will have the opportunity to test a new preorder app to avoid the daunting morning coffee lines. Linda Mills, spokeswoman for Starbucks, states that upon arrival the beverage will be sitting at the counter, and “If we need to remake your beverage to make sure it’s the right temperature, we’ll gladly do it.” Starbucks is not the only chain to incorporate preorder apps, large food-chains such as Pizza Hut, Domino’s Pizza, Taco Bell, Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s are also in the development phase of testing these sort of new apps.
The startup OrderAhead from San Francisco are assembling merchant networks and they work by acquiring a 5-10% cut of each transaction. Jeffrey Byun, former derivatives trader and founder of OrderAhead, states that “OrderAhead addresses latent demand. We’re enabling behavior that was not possible before.” The mobile-payment startup Square is also releasing a preorder all for restaurants in San Francisco and New York. Richard Crone, researcher at Crone Consulting, believes that in the next couple years every quick-service enterprise should have a mobile express lane in order to have a chance at staying in the business.
Different chains will be rolling out their apps at different times and in different ways, whether the app gives an estimate duration until the order will be complete, or if there will be a separate line in store for mobile ordering pick up. Mills believes that while baristas will be challenged to work in the mobile orders into their routine,“the hardest part is just customer awareness, just getting them used to a different behavior and a different routine.” To read more about the different nuances in preorder app rollout and development and how they will help increase efficiency in stores, click here
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