Waze's Latest Feature Enables Users to Order Food in the App

Technological innovations in this day and age are often about making day to day tasks easier or more convenient. They help people to save time and money on mundane tasks like ordering food or obtaining transportation. This week, according to an L.A. Times article by the Associated Press, the navigation app Waze has started to team up with fast-food restaurants like Dunkin' Donuts in order to combine the services offered by the two companies and make ordering coffee and other foods on the way to work a seamless process.

Waze is a popular navigation app for smartphones and tablets, which relies mainly on information input by users. It provides turn-by-turn directions and can even tell drivers in real time which route will have the least traffic. While Waze has teamed up with fast-food restaurants like Taco Bell and Dunkin' Donuts in the past, it was mainly an advertising partnership, where the restaurants paid Waze a fee each month to help remind drivers of the different food options on their route. Now, their business strategy has changed, and become more direct.

Instead of just advertising with Waze, and hoping that the ads will make a few drivers visit their restaurant, Waze has now integrated a method for drivers to order from Dunkin' Donuts and pick it up on their route, all without opening up another app. If the trial run with Dunkin' Donuts goes well, Waze could relatively easily update the system to work for any number of merchants and restaurants. One day, people could be able to order food, reserve parking spots, and even get prescriptions filled, all on the way, without the inherent distractions involved with working from several apps at once.

Users of Waze's new system will have to have Dunkin' Donuts' app on their phone, but as long as they are logged in, Waze will be connected and will be able to access their account at the push of a button. Additionally, users of Waze's system have to be registered with Dunkin' Donuts' customer loyalty program, at least until the chain has determined whether the concept works well enough to offer to all of its customers. Waze has been growing in leaps and bounds lately. Recently, they integrated a feature similar to Uber or Lyft where drivers are paid to pick up and drive with other Waze users looking to Carpool. All of these updates seem to be going well for Waze, but it will take a bit of time to see just how well.

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Mobile Ordering Benefits Both Restaurants and Customers

Often, when you go to restaurant or coffee shop, you are plagued with the hassle of lines and long wait times. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just walk in and walk out minutes later with your order in hand? Fortunately, many restaurants have begun to introduce their own mobile applications that make the process easier for everyone. Samantha Bomkamp, in her L.A. Times article, describes some of the reasons why restaurants have embraced mobile apps and what benefits they can provide.

Mobile apps have the convenience factor that everyone wants. Instead of going into the store and waiting in a line behind a bunch of other people who may still need to decide on their order, you can open up the app on your way to the restaurant, decide what you want, place the order, and pay immediately. All you have to do is walk in and pick up your food, without even the need to stop to pay. Additionally, many fast food and coffee shops are revamping their service to include express lines for people who order online, thus shortening the wait times for everyone.

Pizza shops especially have been making mobile applications a large part of their business strategy. Because a significant portion of their business is already in the delivery sector, their apps have been developed to give customers many options and an easy interface to work with. That kind of app is easily transferable to the pick-up customers, many of whom prefer to tap a button than deal with having to describe their order over the phone. This year restaurants like Dominos and Taco Bell and even coffee shops like Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts have started developing their own applications, making the already fast food even more convenient.

Research has found that, when technology can be used to place an order, the frequency of customer visits rises 6% and average spending goes up by 20%. Because the technology makes it easier to order efficiently, customers are more likely to come back to the restaurants in the future. Additionally, third-party apps like Eastman Egg, an app based out of Chicago that not only lets customers order food from nearby restaurants, but also tracks their location to let the restaurant know the optimal time to start preparing the food so that it will be ready as close as possible to the time the customer arrives. With single restaurants, the app has been found to work wonders but has some issues with large chains like Starbucks that have multiple locations. One way or another, it seems that mobile apps are taking over the restaurant industry, and it's speeding up the process for everyone.

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