Can iPhone and iPad mobile ordering really deliver magic on Halloween?
Traditionally, more pizza is sold on Halloween than on any other day of the year, except Super Bowl Sunday and New Year’s Eve. But, “Halloween falls on a Monday this year – the least popular day of the week to dine out,” said Hudson Riehle, Senior Vice-President of the National Restaurant Association’s Research and Knowledge Group, who noted that that should make the results of the latest study by the National Restaurant Association, especially welcomed by restaurants beleaguered by the down economy. The results of the survey conducted by the National Restaurant Association on October 20-23, in which 1,116 adults were asked “about their plans around Halloween 2011,” were announced last week. They indicate that, overall, 20% of Americans will order take-out or delivery this Halloween. Not surprisingly, that percentage is dramatically higher for families with children (28%) and higher still for “young adults” between the ages of 18-34 – the highly sought after, tech-savvy demographic commonly referred to as Generation Y or the Millennials (33%). A healthy slice of that 33% will almost certainly come from iPhone and iPad mobile ordering, Android tablets and smartphones, and other mobile devices, given that Millennials are early adopters of new technologies and the largest users of online, mobile, and smartphone apps (see our article, “Millennials Want Pizza! Want a Slice? Get an iPad POS System”).
That news comes on the heels of the amazing October 8th report by Domino’s Pizza in the United Kingdom, which announced that the company had received $1.5 million in online orders that day alone (a figure equal to their total annual online sales in 2000), 13% of which came from mobile devices. The company largely attributes the strong growth in its mobile orders (which, it said, “now account for 13% of all e-commerce sales”) to the release of its new iPad app to facilitate iPad mobile ordering. You may recall, that Dominos U.K. and Pizza Hut both previously reported huge gains in mobile orders from their iPhone restaurant menus (see our previous blog post, “Pizza Lovers Love iPhone Restaurant Menus. You Will, Too!”), but Dominos’ latest report is off the charts!
“Companies such as Pizza Hut and Domino’s spearheaded ‘pizza designing apps,’” says freelance web-designer and blogger, Christopher Boudy, Sr., of New Orleans Tech, which describes itself as “a hyper local news media organization.” But, he says, “Naked Pizza has launched an iPad app that adds pizzazz to pizza ordering.” The company’s website has a full page that not only shows you their beautifully designed and user-friendly iPad mobile ordering app, but takes you on a detailed tour of each step. The app, lauds Boudy, “was built with design standards in mind: stunning topography, usability, and crisp images” and excels at both “functionally and usability.”
The web-designer just can’t sing enough praises for the new Naked Pizza iPad mobile ordering app. “If you are already a Naked Pizza customer, you’ll definitely want to use their app over and over. They just made ordering pizza fun again,” he says.
Pizza chains are not the only ones reaping the rewards of iPhone and iPad mobile ordering. Chipotle Mexican Grill’s iPhone app makes it fast and easy for customers to order and pay for their food in advance, so it’s ready for them when they arrive at the restaurant to pick up their bag. Chipotle’s ordering app consistently gets rave reviews from customers. “This is a fantastic way to bypass the long Chipotle lines,” says one. “I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS APP!” says another. Yet another customer writes, “This app is amazing. I wish every restaurant/cafe had one of these. Sometimes I go to Chipotle just because of this app.” And well-known gadget-blog Gizmodo says, “You can delete every other fast food app on your iPhone now. Chipotle’s new app sets the standard for…fast food convenience.”
According to one report, Chipotle’s iPhone app was so popular, when it was first introduced in January 2009, it “was live for only a few hours and then pulled due to unanticipated demand that overloaded the servers handling orders”; but it soon returned to the App Store, once the company had sufficiently ramped up to handle the huge increase in orders. (See our previous blog post, “Just Touch, Pick, & Pay With Chipotle’s iPhone Restaurant Menu.”) Now, iPhone and iPad mobile ordering deliver magic all year!
Disclaimer: This is an independent report sourced from one or more news articles and or press releases; none of the company’s, entities or technologies digressed in this report are affiliated with or a client of Aptito.
Aptito offers a unique All-in-One Solution that features an iPad mobile ordering system which also includes a reservation app, integrated POS with remote access and an easy-to-use online interface. Click Here to learn more.
