With much of the year behind them, quick-service restaurants (QSRs) are taking the time to reflect on their mobile ordering wins and stumbles. Panera Bread, for one, boasted about 33 percent of its sales dollars coming from digital channels, while Chipotle said its digital sales grew by almost 48 percent in Q3.
However, it takes a lot to sustain a robust, and growing, mobile offering. In the November Mobile Order-Ahead Tracker™, PYMNTS explored how QSRs and solution providers alike are working to improve order pickups, entice new users with promotions and ensure that customers feel safe in entrusting their payment information to the ordering service.
Around The Mobile Order-Ahead World
Wendy’s, for example, has been betting big on promotions — and, by its reports, seems to be reaping the rewards. According to CEO Todd Penegor, the company’s September promotion campaign, which offered a free Dave’s Single burger to customers who made an order via the app, doubled the number of active mobile app users from Q2 to Q3.
McDonald’s has also focused on promotions in recent weeks, alongside improvements to the user experience and reliability of its app. Some analysts believe these strategies are making a difference, with app-use driving same-store sales growth in Q3.
Panera CEO Blaine Hurst, meanwhile, remarked on the importance of being able to quickly adjust mobile, online and delivery strategies as consumer expectations and technologies continue to change and evolve. The company’s technology initiatives now operate on two-year time tables, Hurst said, which can help Panera adapt to the latest changes in the space.
To read more on these stories or other headlines from around the Mobile Order-Ahead world, check out the Tracker’s News and Trends section.
Can Campus Dining Graduate To Safer, Swifter Payments?
Mobile order-ahead offerings are even coming to college campuses, where dining operators compete to win the business of busy students and visiting families.
Serving both these groups means providing an app that can easily handle meal plans and credit card payments, and keep it all secure, according to John Diaz, vice president of retail solutions product management for education technology and services company 
Blackboard. That includes everything from tokenizing credit card payment details to single-sign details that students can use to access a host of services, Diaz said.
In this month’s feature story, Diaz explained the designing of the ordering service and why app-based meal plan payments are more secure than those made via student ID cards.
About The Tracker
The Mobile Order-Ahead Tracker™, powered by Kount, serves as a monthly framework for the space, providing coverage of the most recent news and trends, along with a provider directory that highlights the key players contributing across the segments that comprise the mobile order-ahead ecosystem.