Wendy's Updates iOS App to Enable Mobile Payments at U.S. Locations

[garylapointe]

Special orders

If this will let me save my favorite two or three order combinations (which have my special orders) in the app, this will become my favorite restaurant....

Gary

 

[skellener]

Thank you for the clarification. Although technology has progressed quite a bit, it is clear there is still more that needs to be developed. your point about sticking a phone out of the window at a drive through is clearly an important point. Another issue that has been taken up here is that of needing multiple apps -- one for each establishment.

I do not know what the answer is, but we are going to need some integration and consolidation down the road. NFS, Passbook, bitcoin, etc -- we need a universal, secure, and convenient way to pay. I would love for it to live in my phone so I don't need to carry a wallet full of plastic cards. We will also need some universal way to place orders so that I do not have to clutter my phone with apps for every food establishment that I visit. Until then, either folks like Wendy's create apps or sit on the sideline and wait.

Having said that, I congratulate Wendy's for taking a bold step and pushing us forward.

So wait... even a place like Wendy's can't make use of the stupid Passbook? Apple - please let us delete this app (along with other default apps). It's just taking up space buried on the last page in a folder (along with most of your other default apps).

 

[RightMACatU]

This news makes me want to play Atari's Burger Time

 

[Number 41]

Agreed, great push forward with mobile payments, but that doesn't make Apple the king of payment innovation. What about all those Bitcoin wallet apps they decided to ban?

You mean the fake currency that just disappears on you when someone decides to hack a server, leaving you with no recourse?

Yeah, can't imagine why Apple decided to ban those.

 

[larrylaffer]

Agreed, great push forward with mobile payments, but that doesn't make Apple the king of payment innovation. What about all those Bitcoin wallet apps they decided to ban?

Monopoly money doesn't count.

 

[2457282]

Grubhub, Appay, Square, Seamless, and Eat24 all market themselves as a one stop shop for many restaurants. I believe that is more along the lines of what you are looking for.

No, I mean something that is as ubiquitous as Visa. Something that is accepted everywhere. There is nothing on the market that come anywhere close to be ubiquitous. When I walk into any restaurant today, I don't think about it because I know that they will accept Visa (some may still have to decide between several visa cards in their wallet). For electronic payments to work we need to get to that same level. Walking in and having to think about which app to launch depending on where I am is going to keep me reaching for my credit card instead.

I have used square and I like their app, but it only works with places that have square (not a lot in my area). Maybe it will take off. Grubhub and Seamless I think are more about delivery (or at least that is how I used them). Have not used the others.

 

[cclloyd]

Hey, all. Appreciate the interest in the app. On the "should have used iBeacons" or other tech front, we're testing many options including a digital offers system, ordering, and other technologies to allow people to connect with the restaurant.

The reason we're not using Passbook is they do not support dynamically generated codes at this time. Bar codes aren't 1) secure enough and 2) require you to reach your expensive smartphone out of the window at a drive-through (not ideal, in our opinion).

With 6500 locations world-wide there's a lot of trial-and-error we need to go through to figure out what works best for most.

Happy to answer any questions about our app or why we're doing what we're doing.

Thanks,
Brandon, VP of Digital at Wendy's

Is there a way to check which restaurants support this type of payment? (This particular one being on a college campus)

 

[Icaras]

What? No passbook?

Delete.

 

[JHankwitz]

I seriously don't get it. How is this of any benefit whatsoever to me? I go to Wendy's, order my food, and swipe my credit card. The end. Why in hell do I need an app for every restaurant I patronize that basically serves as a prepaid gift card? How is this good or innovative in any way? I'm all for innovation, but I just don't see it here. Maybe I'm completely missing something, but I'm just not willing to basically buy prepaid gift cards in the form of mobile apps for every restaurant.

You nailed it! It's easier to hand over my credit card to swipe than my iPhone.

 

[Icaras]

You nailed it! It's easier to hand over my credit card to swipe than my iPhone.

IF Wendy's offered Passbook integration, like Starbucks or Fandango, it would automatically appear on your home screen, meaning a swipe and a passcode or fingerprint scan and done. And that last bit is personally what gets my vote: security. You don't have a passcode or fingerprint scanner on your credit card do you? This way, you can leave your card at home, safe and sound. Also, do you have GPS on your credit card in case it gets lost? No, but your iPhone does.

 

[ardent73]

They had to find a way around Apple taking 30% of all in-app purchases.

It's called PayPal.

 

[ethanlee]

You mean the fake currency that just disappears on you when someone decides to hack a server, leaving you with no recourse?

Yeah, can't imagine why Apple decided to ban those.

No, I mean the real, peer-to-peer, revolutionary digital currency that doesn't "disappear" but has all of its transactions recorded on a public ledger. Losing BTC when "someone decides to hack a server" means that you've made the unfortunate mistake of leaving all of your money with an exchange instead of transferring it to your own offline wallet, which is only accessible by your own private key.

It's no different than, say, PayPal getting hacked and losing the money in your PayPal account and maybe your bank details (except that there's no public ledger here to see where all the money went). But by your logic, not only PayPal should be removed from the App Store, but all payment-related apps simply because your money can be lost in human error!

So you're right, I can't imagine either why Apple would decide to ban Bitcoin wallet apps...except- oh wait- to keep Passbook relevant. /rant

----------

Monopoly money doesn't count.

Pretty sure you can't buy gift cards to pretty much anything in Monopoly money, neither can you use Monopoly money for online stores like Overstock. Comparing Bitcoin to play money only confirms that you don't really understand how it works. Please take the time to educate yourself, and if you want, I will send you some BTC myself to prove that it's real and it has value - both in cryptographic technology and the real world!

 

[ardent73]

Happy to answer any questions about our app or why we're doing what we're doing.

Thanks,
Brandon, VP of Digital at Wendy's

So how come I get $1 off coupons on my birthday, but I have to print it and waste paper & ink, assuming I can get access to a printer? Doesn't seem very Digital to me.

 

[liavman]

I seriously don't get it. How is this of any benefit whatsoever to me? I go to Wendy's, order my food, and swipe my credit card. The end. Why in hell do I need an app for every restaurant I patronize that basically serves as a prepaid gift card?

Two use cases I can think of.

1) You place the order at the drive through, they tell you the total is 4.38. You punch that in to your app and it gives you a six digit code, you read that out to the cashier and it is paid. You just collect the food and go.

2) You can load some money into your kids phones. It will come in handy for them when they go to Wendy's. Other alternatives for this use cases are not as good. Cash, creditcard, debit card etc are not as easy to use as this for kids.