Free food from fast food places? Just download the app. Of course, the "free food" comes at a price since the fast food companies have your information, including credit card information.
They can target the (mostly) young consumers. That information is way more valuable than an order of French fries.
You don't have to download the app to get fast food. The customer has a choice.
Didn't give much thought to fast food apps before the time mentioned (above) in the tweet. Using an app to place an order even if I was right there in the establishment was surreal. Being told face to face that a person couldn't order food without reverting to a smartphone with a credit card.
We've seen places go temporarily cashless. Using a credit card is problematic if you have tons of credit card debt due to financial issues in the pandemic. A customer being forced to use a credit card is bad enough but having to give out that credit card info in an app just to get food is problematic.
You might be asking,"millions of millennials sacrifice that info for convenience. Stop being an old person and just do it." Fair question.
While this was a temporary stance, I thought about the advantages and disadvantages of ordering restaurant food from an app.
If Trader Joe's or Whole Foods required an app to buy groceries, would I sign up? What about a regional grocery store?
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I love the fast food kiosks. Love how I can specialize my order. The orders have been correct, all but one time.
The kiosks do take longer to work than telling someone what I want.
Ordering food in the app before you set foot in the establishment can be a definite advantage. This may depend on what kind of fast food. Ordering a pizza in an app would be huge since there is a margin for error in the temperature of the pizza. Ordering questionable Mexican food? Maybe. Ordering a burger and fries on an app? Likely to be cold when I pick up the food.
Saw a Sonic ad where the woman ordered drinks on the app. If ice is involved, you're picking up a watered down drink.
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Would be more likely to order a dinner from an app for a medium-sized restaurant, a meal that takes time to prepare. Fast food comes too quickly for app to be viable.
Since the credit card is attached to the app, you can pay for the food with that credit card. If you are short on money, you can still get food.
This is where the app comes in handy. You can track your fast food purchases on your credit card statements. That can be exciting and depressing at the same time. If I ever saw a statement tracking money spent on fast food, I might be inclined to spend less on fast food. Guilty pleasures shouldn't leave tracks.
McDonald's used to promote its gift certificates at holiday time. They made a nice stocking stuffer where you could wait and then use the gift certificates to purchase food.
An app where I could place, say, $25 at the beginning of the year. A McDonald's fund (just to give an example) where I could spend as needed. If the app was compromised or the phone stolen, all I would be out is the McDonald's money. My app would tell me how much I still had and guide me to the nearest location to put more money in my account. This would be a modern day version of the gift certificates.
I would do that for Little Caesar's or any other place where I go occasionally. I wouldn't need to feel as guilty and likely would make more purchases than if I had been using cash all along. Not having a credit card tied to an immediate purchase would lessen the risk of using the app.
The idea of a fast food app where I could spend my money at several fast food outlets would be more appealing. A mad money fund of $50 that I could spend at Wendy's, Subway, and Five Guys. The Yum! brands (Pizza Hut, Long John Silver's, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken) would be particularly attractive because of the variety of the establishments.
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The reason the apps aren't appealing is that they don't offer much of a bonus to join in the party. I used to be that fast food customer that fit into the demo. I would have signed up for the app back then for payment more than ordering convenience.
We live in a world where ordering from a fast food app fits the target audience. They see convenience and are willing to sacrifice quality to get that convenience.
Twitter capture: @balanceoffood
photo credit: McDonald's
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