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Chipotle is usually faster if you go there in person

Not to mention minimal advertising, naturally raised meat, organic ingredients, sustainable architecture, plant-based cleaners, and more recently, putting wind turbines and solar panels on the roof!

Yeah, I know. Nobody cares about that stuff. :(
 
I never eat at Taco Bell, but I will actually start when this is rolled out. This is so much better than having to ask what nasty sh** comes on my taco and then telling them to take it all off.
 
About time.

We should be able to go to a fast food place, grab a table, order food from our smartphones, pay for it (very important that the food is paid for before anything is made) and have it delivered to our table number.
 
This will only work if they have a special cash register set up so you don't have to wait through the order line when you get there. Subway sandwich's online ordering app works pretty good.
 
Does this mean Taco Bell is going to hire (more/cheaper) non-English speaking staff that don't have to talk to the customers to take their orders? ;) :p

Taco Bell's wages are already the lowest amongst fast-food chains in the country. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the real motive—cutting corners.

Taco Bell Is The Worst-Paying Fast Food Company

In going out on a limb here and assuming that exactly zero people who eat fast good care about this. What they want is delicious processes lard, sugars, and sodium. They don't care about their own health, why would they care about the pimple faced teenager behind the drive thru window?
 
So, will this system also link to a mapping app showing the nearest restrooms? :D
Hopefully sorted by "clean" vs "Maybe" and "Free" vs "Pay".
That’s pretty slick. I love the idea of pushing the decision delay outside of the restaurant/line, and then providing a JIT kind of food prep - per this quote:

ast time I ate at one was a couple of years ago, coming home from the downtown casino in Pittsburgh, we were hungry, tired and the drive through was open at 2am :)

Yeah, yikes ... it’s _cheap_ for college kids I guess :D

In that mode, I prefer Del Taco. just tastes better to me yet they still have decent deals. The fact they have Pibb on tap is a bonus.

Also, between the price change bull the local one did a year or two back (Sorry, the right prices are in the register, and we can't change the menu until the owner is back - not even a posted sign mentioning that the prices were outdated on the drive thru) and the decision to do their "XXL" grilled burritos but drop the regular size ones, I've been back maybe twice for myself in the past ear (manager at work is preg, so I get occasional food run duty). I also miss when the nachos bell grande was, well, "grande". And not simply "supreme".
 
I don't really eat Taco Bell but I must say I LOVE the Chipotle app. It's so awesome if I'm about to leave work for the day and don't feel like cooking I just order what I want swing by the store on the way home and it's ready to go. Sometimes the line is pretty long since my Chipotle is right across the road from a children's hospital so the app is pretty handy for avoiding a line of people that typically don't know what they want. :p

I think the Mobile Ordering apps are a great idea.
 
This will be chaos when a bunch of people arrive at once.

Not if the map thing works. And the staffing etc is done right. The food would be ready or extremely close to when folks arrive. The app could just pull out a barcode, Qr you scan to mark it as picked up and hand over a bag. You could have a set station just for those pickups to not bog down other lines

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About time.

We should be able to go to a fast food place, grab a table, order food from our smartphones, pay for it (very important that the food is paid for before anything is made) and have it delivered to our table number.

Via robot
 
Does it really take that long to get an order from a fast foot place? Really? What is the upside of this new service? It won't speed up orders. Not for a drive-thru where you'll have to wait in a queue anyway. It won't make the food any better. It's not a delivery service - you still have to go in to get the order. Mostly it will just piss off impatient customers who placed an order and it's wrong or not ready when they get there. I'm confused what the benefit will be. Taco Bell gets your money faster? :confused:
 
People keep pushing for increased minimum wage workers... this is the result.

SelfServ mobile ordering, SelfServ kiosk ordering (has been trialed at Wendy's). Maybe more automation coming down the line.

We have a nearby local 24hr cupcake atm. Imagine if that could pass a burrito/cheeseburger/fries through a microwave and out through a slot.

Few people needed.

As someone who works on the R&D campus of a SelfServ kiosk company, I totally support $15+/hr minimum wage :)
 
People keep pushing for increased minimum wage workers... this is the result.

SelfServ mobile ordering, SelfServ kiosk ordering (has been trialed at Wendy's). Maybe more automation coming down the line.

We have a nearby local 24hr cupcake atm. Imagine if that could pass a burrito/cheeseburger/fries through a microwave and out through a slot.

Few people needed.

As someone who works on the R&D campus of a SelfServ kiosk company, I totally support $15+/hr minimum wage :)

Yeah, well, unfortunately when these people price themselves out of the market they'll be relying more heavily on government (tax payer) assistance.

Kind of a cool idea but it's solving a problem that doesn't exist IMO. Taco Bell generally has very fast service. And if you still have to wait in line to pay there's really no advantage.
 
I don't really eat Taco Bell but I must say I LOVE the Chipotle app. It's so awesome if I'm about to leave work for the day and don't feel like cooking I just order what I want swing by the store on the way home and it's ready to go. Sometimes the line is pretty long since my Chipotle is right across the road from a children's hospital so the app is pretty handy for avoiding a line of people that typically don't know what they want. :p

I think the Mobile Ordering apps are a great idea.

Chipotle rules. Generous portions, excellent ingredients, and you can make a right edible burrito if you have 'em ladle on a mix of salsas. Some deride it as inauthentic. I say, get over it, it's darn good by any measure.

And the app! Just the very best thing on my iPhone, is all. If I'm stuck in some dreary hotel somewhere (at least in the US), it'll help me order and then guide me to a Chipotle nearby where my food will be waiting for me. The very greatest app ever.

But a Taco Bell iPhone app? I guess it's an idea for those who just can't wait for their indigestion. I hope they call the app iArrhea.
 
I'm shocked drive thru windows don't already have touch screens to place and pay for your order. I feel like we have been behind for over a decade.
 
I'm shocked drive thru windows don't already have touch screens to place and pay for your order. I feel like we have been behind for over a decade.

That's fine and dandy for people who know what they want and are fairly competent. But you'll always have those people who A) can't figure out how to use a touchscreen and B) want to customize the hell out of their order. It would take forever. Also not real sure how you're going to reach a touchscreen while in your car.

And honestly, I'm no germaphobe but I don't want to touch a Taco Bell touchscreen and then turn around and eat my food without access to a sink and soap.
 
oh man. i thought it was delivery. i got too excited

Baby steps.

I don't think delivery is in the cards, even with drones. On the other hand, you could order your Taco Loco meal and then just print it at home on your 3D printer. It doesn't get fresher than that.
 
In going out on a limb here and assuming that exactly zero people who eat fast good care about this. What they want is delicious processes lard, sugars, and sodium. They don't care about their own health, why would they care about the pimple faced teenager behind the drive thru window?

I always get a little suspicious when I see a pimple faced teenager serve my food. Cuz what if their pimple juice leaked out into my food while they were making it? I don't wanna eat a whitehead!
 
I always get a little suspicious when I see a pimple faced teenager serve my food. Cuz what if their pimple juice leaked out into my food while they were making it? I don't wanna eat a whitehead!

They've been shown to serve horse meat (which I don't necessarily have a problem with except that customers were none the wiser; of course it's also illegal to eat horse in the states). I wouldn't be surprised if there were other mystery ingredients.
 
They've been shown to serve horse meat (which I don't necessarily have a problem with except that customers were none the wiser; of course it's also illegal to eat horse in the states). I wouldn't be surprised if there were other mystery ingredients.

One of the main reasons why I don't eat at Taco Bell nearly so often anymore (besides my recent foray into Chili Cheese Burrito land) is because of the meat. I quit liking the place as much back in the late 90's, when they changed something or other and lost a bit of the taste. And I like it even less now after the recent "we can't call it beef, but...well...it's protein. Officially it's fit for human consumption" hoopla that went on a little while back.

I won't lie and say I never go there anymore, but I'm usually kind of begrudging about it when I do. Their black bean burritos are pretty good, at least.
 
Chipotle rules. Generous portions, excellent ingredients, and you can make a right edible burrito if you have 'em ladle on a mix of salsas. Some deride it as inauthentic. I say, get over it, it's darn good by any measure.

And the app! Just the very best thing on my iPhone, is all. If I'm stuck in some dreary hotel somewhere (at least in the US), it'll help me order and then guide me to a Chipotle nearby where my food will be waiting for me. The very greatest app ever.

But a Taco Bell iPhone app? I guess it's an idea for those who just can't wait for their indigestion. I hope they call the app iArrhea.

If you really look at the nutritional value, Chipotle and Taco Bell are one and the same. A chipotle burrito can contain your whole daily value of sodium, sat. fat, and cholesterol.
 
If you really look at the nutritional value, Chipotle and Taco Bell are one and the same. A chipotle burrito can contain your whole daily value of sodium, sat. fat, and cholesterol.

Sure, but look at actual nutritional VALUE and not just "nutrition information" (they aren't synonymous). Nutrition information is borderline worthless, but too many people treat it as gospel. You are able to see what basic forms the energy in your food item comes from. I would say no hormone actual chicken breast cooked on a grill is going to have a better nutritional value than the frozen reheated slop you get at Taco Bell even if calories and other stats are equal. I'll absolutely hand you sodium though. That's a pretty good usable number. But when it comes to bioavailability, protein isn't just protein. Fat isn't just fat. Carbs aren't just carbs. A wonderful example is egg protein. It's one of the most bioavailabe proteins on the planet. Also coconut oil. On paper it's nearly all saturated fats. Biologically, however, it doesn't go rancid under high heat (as most cooking oils, including olive, do) and is actually one of the healthiest oils on the market to consume.

(For those really worried about all of this, make your own food. You know exactly what goes into it, and even if you buy organic meat it ends up being cheaper than take out. Too many people shy away from spending money on quality groceries because "it's too expensive" and then end up spending more, cumulatively, eating out.
 
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