Square Testing 'Pickup' App to Speed Up Ordering of Takeout

This could be very cool. Phone calls are a crappy way of conveying information - I'd love the ability to type exactly what I want, have them read exactly what I want, and then be able to see the exact time it'll be ready.

That it handles the payment too is just icing on the cake.

Next they need to do what TacoBell is doing and have my order automatically be placed when I'm at the right distance from the store for it to be finished right as I arrive.

You'd have to be pretty damn hungry to travel 7951.2 mi to pick-up some food.

This company does so much cool stuff. I'm always surprised and delighted by whatever they do.

SJism23 said:

You'd have to be pretty damn hungry to travel 7951.2 mi to pick-up some food.

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That's if you want to order REALLLLY far ahead.

Anything to avoid the awkward phone orders. Most common place I order from I can't understand the guy 50% of the time.

The app does look cool, and I'm a big fan of mobile food pickup, but that's because it already exists. And the only downside now is the number of services out there to choose from. There are certain restaurants exclusive to Grubhub vs Seamless vs Eat24 .... This will just further divide the market and create another format that ultimately worsens the experience for the consumer having a segmented "menu". It kills me that Grubhub and Seamless have merged yet maintain separate apps. There is overlap with some restaurants on both services, but its screwy because some have cheaper delivery charges or none at all. It just seems a pointless to have all these services. It reminds me of TV and providers and having exclusive rights to certain channels or networks. It doesn't help the consumer!

ArtOfWarfare said:

This could be very cool. Phone calls are a crappy way of conveying information - I'd love the ability to type exactly what I want, have them read exactly what I want, and then be able to see the exact time it'll be ready.

That it handles the payment too is just icing on the cake.

Next they need to do what TacoBell is doing and have my order automatically be placed when I'm at the right distance from the store for it to be finished right as I arrive.

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I have a pizza place near me that does web orders.

Checkboxes for each topping, lite sauce, heavy cheese mushrooms and artichoke on one half extra cheddar lite garlic and 3x shrimp and greek olives on the other half, extra crispy, cut into squares, 2 liter pop I won't drink, and an order of baklava. Add coupon I got in the mail to the order and use my account's default address (including the details I entered 6 months ago about approximately where the obscure street that some GPS's seem to claim doesn't exist) on the bottom and I wait.

It saves a lot of time for the workers trying to figure out what people are saying and I can muddle over the menu for 20 minutes changing my mind several times without having to do it again when I call.

dannyyankou said:

Anything to do to avoid the awkward phone orders. Most common place I order from I can't understand the guy 50% of the time.

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I tend to talk fast, so I mostly just feel bad for them.

Parasprite said:

I have a pizza place near me that does web orders.

Checkboxes for each topping, lite sauce, heavy cheese mushrooms and artichoke on one half extra cheddar lite garlic and 3x shrimp and greek olives on the other half, extra crispy, cut into squares, 2 liter pop I won't drink, and an order of baklava. Add coupon I got in the mail to the order and use my account's default address (including the details I entered 6 months ago about approximately where the obscure street that some GPS's seem to claim doesn't exist) on the bottom and I wait.

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I use Domino's web app when I order from them. The other smaller pizza places in my area don't have anything similar - I have to give them a call still. (Good thing my order is a lot simpler: Chicken Finger Calzone. My local Greek pizza place does this amazingly - most places kind of suck at making it so I stick with pizzas with more normal toppings elsewhere.)

Parasprite said:

I tend to talk fast, so I mostly just feel bad for them.

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Win-win situation

So, kind of like Just Eat then?

http://www.just-eat.co.uk

Awesome. Even less social interaction. Who needs to talk to people, or go to a restaurant, when you can just text your order, pick it up, and wander home to your computer for Facebook "social fun".

Sometimes tech convenience can lead to unforeseen consequences, just look at the [lack of] social skills with the younger generation. It's an HR nightmare. Pretty soon, we'll regress to grunting with texting, who needs to talk?

Dominos in the UK already have an app where you can place your orders for delivery, and even pay for them by card as well. JustEat is another UK company that offers similar services for the local indian on the corner etc. For a brit like me, this is old hat

bedifferent said:

Awesome. Even less social interaction. Who needs to talk to people, or go to a restaurant, when you can just text your order, pick it up, and wander home to your computer for Facebook "social fun".

Sometimes tech convenience can lead to unforeseen consequences, just look at the [lack of] social skills with the younger generation. It's an HR nightmare. Pretty soon, we'll regress to grunting with texting, who needs to talk?

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Lack of social skills with the younger generation has less to do with tech and more to do with parenting. I would love to have an app like the one mentioned in the article so like others say I can mull over the menu and place my order the way I want it and pay for it. Does not mean I will goto the restaraunt and grunt while showing my phone with a picture of the order so they know its mine.

synergy said:

Lack of social skills with the younger generation has less to do with tech and more to do with parenting. I would love to have an app like the one mentioned in the article so like others say I can mull over the menu and place my order the way I want it and pay for it. Does not mean I will goto the restaraunt and grunt while showing my phone with a picture of the order so they know its mine.

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Have you, yourself, noticed a social decline with person-to-person interaction be it over the phone or actually in person verbally communicating in your day to day life? What about your own communication with others?

I don't know about other places, but in New York I feel like ordering food online is the rule not the exception. Seamless, Foodler, grub hub etc.

Yeah, yeah ....

The fact is, I've never in my entire life had a meaningful social interaction with someone taking my food order!

Most of the time, if you so much as started to, the person's manager would come over and start prodding them to "stop holding up the line"!

The only real purpose of that particular interaction is to detail your order and receive a total price for it -- something done much more efficiently by computer.

People go to restaurants and dine-in, in the first place, as a social thing. Even if you're just eating there by yourself, you're probably doing so, vs. eating at home, so you can take in some different sights and do a bit of "people watching" while you eat.

There are definitely some concerns one could have about social media, the proliferation of smartphones, and so forth causing society to communicate in person less than we should. But this application only addresses a very specific interaction, designed to accomplish a single goal -- and improves on the "old way".

bedifferent said:

Awesome. Even less social interaction. Who needs to talk to people, or go to a restaurant, when you can just text your order, pick it up, and wander home to your computer for Facebook "social fun".

Sometimes tech convenience can lead to unforeseen consequences, just look at the [lack of] social skills with the younger generation. It's an HR nightmare. Pretty soon, we'll regress to grunting with texting, who needs to talk?

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dibs1234 said:

Appay and Grubhub already do this and have a POS app too. Plus appay even allows iBeacons and refills.

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Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, another startup GoPago does this exactly as well. I used them a few times and it was great. The restaurants would even send me a push notification to let me know my order was ready. Great for when I wanted lunch just across the street from work.

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The123king said:

Dominos in the UK already have an app where you can place your orders for delivery, and even pay for them by card as well. JustEat is another UK company that offers similar services for the local indian on the corner etc. For a brit like me, this is old hat

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Well I'm sure most places have their pizza apps that allow you to order for pickup or delivery. We have an easy to use dominos app as well. But that's a single app for a single restaurant chain.
I think where this differs is that it will be one app for a very large group of restaurants in one convenient place. Think of it like looking for a restaurant and filtering it with Yelp. (Come to think of it, Yelp should be doing this. I'd use it all the time.)

We had an app here in the Bay Area called GoPago, and they were able to get dozens (hundreds?) of restaurants to participate. If this startup could get so many, I imagine Square can be even more successful.
I can filter restaurants by distance, and see a dozen restaurants within just a couple of blocks of my work. I can then see all of the menus and order what I want, pay and even add a tip. Then I just swing by, give them my name/flash my confirmation numebr on my phone, and walk off with my order.

kingtj said:

The fact is, I've never in my entire life had a meaningful social interaction with someone taking my food order!

Most of the time, if you so much as started to, the person's manager would come over and start prodding them to "stop holding up the line"!

The only real purpose of that particular interaction is to detail your order and receive a total price for it -- something done much more efficiently by computer.

People go to restaurants and dine-in, in the first place, as a social thing. Even if you're just eating there by yourself, you're probably doing so, vs. eating at home, so you can take in some different sights and do a bit of "people watching" while you eat.

There are definitely some concerns one could have about social media, the proliferation of smartphones, and so forth causing society to communicate in person less than we should. But this application only addresses a very specific interaction, designed to accomplish a single goal -- and improves on the "old way".

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I think you missed the broader implications of my comment, as it wasn't just about ordering take-out. Forest from the trees, and all.

bedifferent said:

I think you missed the broader implications of my comment, as it wasn't just about ordering take-out. Forest from the trees, and all.

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Based on your comment and your signature, I couldn't help but think about the "I Robot" stories where in the future people can't even imagine being physically in the presence of another person. Brings back some great memories of reading science fiction that now is gradually becoming science fact.

Nunyabinez said:

Based on your comment and your signature, I couldn't help but think about the "I Robot" stories where in the future people can't even imagine being physically in the presence of another person. Brings back some great memories of reading science fiction that now is gradually becoming science fact.

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Seriously, great observation on my signature and my modest opinion. 'Course I have nothing wrong with technology, yet as a 37 year old I'm in between the non-tech savvy older generations and extremely tech savvy younger generations. Tech should [ideally] be an extension of oneself, not in lieu of human contact and thus humanity. The H.R. stories I hear from friends interviewing college grad's who text, don't make eye contact and lack the skills to eloquently verbalize why they would be an asset to xxx company in an interview is astonishing. The pendulum always swings, I hope for humanity's sake it finds a resting place in the middle.

unplugme71 said:

Have you, yourself, noticed a social decline with person-to-person interaction be it over the phone or actually in person verbally communicating in your day to day life? What about your own communication with others?

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I have not noticed it over the phone or in person. My own personal habit is to put away my phone when someone is talking to me. Even if that person is some random person waiting at the bus stop with me.
That could just be my area I suppose.