Dive Brief:
- Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores is extending its order-ahead capabilities to its 92 owned and operated Hardee’s locations, the company announced on Monday.
- The travel center company rolled out this service, which is powered by tech company Bite, to its Arby’s sites in June and its Carl’s Jr. QSRs in July. Plans are in the works to bring it to Bojangles and Taco John’s in the future as well, the company said on Monday.
- Love’s and fellow travel center companies Pilot and TravelCenters of America have all been upping their food e-commerce game in the past few months by adding digital ordering kiosks or order-ahead systems.
Dive Insight:
Order-ahead technology not only allows Love’s to improve order accuracy without additional workers, but lets customers schedule food to be ready for pickup when they arrive.
Customers can access order ahead through the Love’s connect app. They can search for a participating location, then click the “order now” button to pull up the menu, select items and specify a pick-up time.
Professional drivers can use their My Love’s Rewards number at checkout to earn points and access deals with their orders. First-time users of the order ahead can also add a free Famous Star burger or sausage, egg and cheese biscuit to their order.
In addition to expanding mobile ordering, Love’s recently added digital ordering kiosks at its Arby’s locations. The kiosks, also developed with Bite, allow for increased order accuracy and can replace the need for workers taking orders.
Within the last couple weeks, TA announced it would add ordering kiosks to its Popeyes locations, noting that an added benefit of the service is its ability to help people with varying language needs. In that same timeframe, Pilot unveiled order-ahead technology. While customers can’t order from its QSRs yet, they can schedule a selection of the banner’s own foodservice items along with other drinks, snacks and automotive items.
