USAToday: Big restaurant chains are rushing into what could be the future of takeout and delivery food: text ordering. Leading the way are the pizza giants. Papa John’s is airing national TV spots to promote the text ordering that it launched in November. Domino’s has offered mobile ordering — which requires cellphone Web access — since July. Pizza Hut is about to start promoting both text and mobile ordering.
Quiznos, Dunkin’ Donuts and Subway have looked into text ordering. McDonald’s is testing it in Seoul. Starbucks tested it in London and at one U.S. store. Papa John’s CEO Nigel Travis compares the potential to online ordering, which accounts for 20% of Papa John’s sales. “Text is the way forward,” he says. He predicts it will account for 3% of sales within two years.
The potential pool of users is huge, considering Americans already send 30 billion text messages a month. Noah Glass, founder and CEO of GoMobo.com, predicts texting could account for 25% of all food takeout orders within the decade.
More takeout orderers are all thumbs [USAToday]
Text For Food
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Yes, I certainly agree. I covered this a month or two ago in more detail here:
http://www.pinnycohen.com/2007/11/27/marketing-wisdom/would-you-order-food-by-text-messaging/
Text message ordering is no longer limited to the big national restaurant chains! San Diego based Zingle enables independent restaurants and regional chain restaurants with the ability to provide their customers the convenience of text message food ordering.
Based on free form text, customers have maximum flexibility to explain what they want. This easy to use service also allows restaurant owners to customize the confirmation message sent to customers, providing the opportunity to promote new products and up sell complimentary products at key times.
More details can be viewed at http://www.thezingle.com