According to Nation’s Restaurant News, “Hans Hess, the founder and chief executive of organic hamburger concept Elevation Burger, typifies an emerging movement toward mobile commerce. When he’s on the go, he uses his iPhone to download driving directions rather than relying on maps, and he places takeout orders from one of the eight restaurants on Elevation Burger’s iPhone application.”
“Smart-phone apps until recently had not been widely adopted in the restaurant industry — certainly trailing far behind other social media — because of operators’ concerns over development costs or customers’ willingness to download and use them. With new ties to online ordering and payment technologies, that is changing. Hess said a smart-phone app became cost-effective as part of his chain’s mobile- and Web-ordering system, and that the iPhone app fit in with Elevation Burger’s core customer. ‘It’s pretty much in keeping with our demographic,’ Hess said. ‘A fair number of people at our restaurants own iPhones. The more channels you give people to order your product, there’s an intangible that comes with that. Selling burgers is part of it, but the bulk of the motivation is giving guests another alternative for ordering what’s already integrated into their lifestyle.”
“Elevation Burger’s vendor for the smart-phone app, OrderTopia, integrates restaurants’ m-commerce and e-commerce functions into one common back-office platform. So whether a customer places an order via an iPhone, online or at the restaurant’s POS, it’s all centralized. For Elevation Burger, however, the big pay-off is in the convenience apps offer, which is meant to bolster guest loyalty, Hess said.”
Read more: http://www.nrn.com/breakingNews.aspx?id=382724#ixzz0mz7n1pdk
