What would you want in an iphone app for your restaurant?

Hello,

I'm working on a startup that will provide branded iPhone apps to restaurants.  We've also built a web-interface so restaurant owners can manage, menus, coupons, events, and even track orders placed through the app and view reports about what and how people are ordering.

We've built a few apps for restaurants and are going into beta next week but I was curious to hear what other features you would want to see in an app.  Currently we have:

menu (users can see your menu, place orders, and see their order history)
alerts (you can send them coupons and event into)
contact ( we show them your restaurant on a map and give them buttons to call)

What else should be included?  Any thoughts you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Eddie

If you would like a beta tester, We have iPhones...

I like the fact that you can plug this little black cube in the headseat port and swipe credit cards.... i'm  still reading up on them, but it seems pretty sweet. 

**** as far as in the app.. you should incorporate a way to place an order on the app too from the restaurant you wish to eat at.  The restaurant gets it, places a confirmation call to the person placing the order, Maybe even a pay by credit card option too.. but I assume it would have to be SSL at best.

Good Luck !!!

The Wild Dog
"Our Dogs Don't Just Snap, They Bite"
www.thewilddogcart.com
www.facebook.com/thewilddogcart

Just out of curiosity, why would you build an app that does this with only one phone, verses, building a mobile friendly web page that works on almost all mobile devices?

blueshoe


Hello,

I'm working on a startup that will provide branded iPhone apps to restaurants.  We've also built a web-interface so restaurant owners can manage, menus, coupons, events, and even track orders placed through the app and view reports about what and how people are ordering.

We've built a few apps for restaurants and are going into beta next week but I was curious to hear what other features you would want to see in an app.  Currently we have:

menu (users can see your menu, place orders, and see their order history)
alerts (you can send them coupons and event into)
contact ( we show them your restaurant on a map and give them buttons to call)

What else should be included?  Any thoughts you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Eddie

Ability to order
Hours
Condiment page
Pic of the day (could be a meal- happy customer, etc)
Vid- ability to watch a currently posted vid of the store. ie: Owner personally shoots and loads on what every format they choose a short vid (30 secs) of food being prepared. Customer can click vid and see a clip of the item being made. Burger sizzling, fries, dawg being dressed, etc.
About us page.

Stephen Rushmore Jr.


Just out of curiosity, why would you build an app that does this with only one phone, verses, building a mobile friendly web page that works on almost all mobile devices?

That's a great question.  We won't limit it to iPhones but will eventually add a mobile site and other phones to our offering (android, bb, etc).  The idea is to give restaurant owners one web interface to use to manage their content and let us worry about all the ways to get it out to users (iphone app, android app, mobile site, etc).

The benefits of an app over a site is that it provides a much richer experience for the members.  For example in our app people can get a history of what they have ordered with your restaurant and order it again with one click.  With a mobile site, that would require us to have the user login with a username/password which can be a pain on a mobile phone.  With the embedded, app, we are also able to send you richer data about what and where people are ordering.  We are using the gps functionality of a phone to show you were most of your orders come from. 

We will be adding a mobile site soon but with our initial launch, we'll be providing restaurants with branded iphone apps at a fraction of the cost of going to a development shop while also providing you the tools to manage it.

Eddie

cool.

THE WILD DOG


If you would like a beta tester, We have iPhones...

I like the fact that you can plug this little black cube in the headseat port and swipe credit cards.... i'm  still reading up on them, but it seems pretty sweet. 

**** as far as in the app.. you should incorporate a way to place an order on the app too from the restaurant you wish to eat at.  The restaurant gets it, places a confirmation call to the person placing the order, Maybe even a pay by credit card option too.. but I assume it would have to be SSL at best.

Wild Dog,

We have added ordering into our app as we believe that is a critical piece of the application.  We'll be sending along the order to the restaurants via email, sms or voice.  Hopefully, we'll be adding integration into some point of sale systems in the future if needed.  We'll also be providing the restaurant owners with a rich set of data about they orders they are receiving. 

We'd love to have more beta testers as we really looking to get this in the hands of professionals like yourself so we can get your feedback on how to make it better before our public launch.

Feel free to PM me here and I'll send along our site if interested. 

Thanks again,
Eddie

I would like to see apps that will work with wholesale food vendors, butcher shops etc. You could develop the platform then plug-ins for the individual companies.  Allow for account maintenance price checking ordering etc. Add a bar code scanner. I can imagine a mini P.O.S. that spits out a receipt via blue tooth printing. Build a mount/charger/anchor for your cart or whatever. and viola mini cash register.

The possibilities are endless.

what's an iphone?

a baby ipad.

LOL @ BV  very true !!!

One key thing I think of as a customer that would use this is I want as few clicks as possible to place my order, review it and then pay for it. I would like to see all items on one page and a shopping cart loaded only once. I have seen carts loaded one item at a time making you click something to return to shopping. Make it user friendly and cut out the number of clicks needed to check out. I don't mind filling in pertinent info when I sign up the first time, that is different. 

Just my .02.
Loyd
Washington, NC

We have a very popular service here:

http://www.foodbyphone.com/


It's really fast, and the great part is you can all order your favorite items from as many different resto's as you like.  They do all the web interface, and customer service, no direct customer interaction with the resto.  Their motorcycle messenger collects all the orders and delivers on one run.  I think a service similar to this that takes on the customer service responsibilities would be an interesting approach.  The problem with doing this internal within the resto is coordinating all the different ways orders get to you, and scheduling them in house.  

puddlejumper


One key thing I think of as a customer that would use this is I want as few clicks as possible to place my order, review it and then pay for it. I would like to see all items on one page and a shopping cart loaded only once. I have seen carts loaded one item at a time making you click something to return to shopping. Make it user friendly and cut out the number of clicks needed to check out. I don't mind filling in pertinent info when I sign up the first time, that is different. 

Just my .02.
Loyd
Washington, NC

Loyd,

Great suggestions.  In our app, we let the customers click through the menu and keep adding what they want.  When they are ready to order, they simply click the order tab, look at the order and click 'order'.  We even include an order history so they can pull up what they ordered last time and with one button order again. 

All these features come on our standard app which is then branded for your restaurant...it will look exactly how you want and restaurant owners have full control over the content.

Eddie

Did anything ever come of this? I am actually much more interested in p.o.s. for the Iphone or Ipad but this sounds cool too.

Hi Blueshoe,
I thought I had a brilliant idea until I read your posting -- What it is the name of your App/Website and how is business?
 
Holstebro