Fast Casual Restaurant Chain Cuts Order Times Using Location Data

Imagine walking into a restaurant and before you even cross the threshold the server knows your name, your order, and exactly where to find you. Guaranteed customer service and greater satisfaction can follow out-of-the-box thinking and innovation. That is exactly the service integration adopted by McAlister’s Deli in Texas, resulting in enhanced customer interactions and streamlined processing of orders.

McAlister’s Deli was able to shave precious minutes off its ordering process by using a groundbreaking solution developed by location data platform Bluedot and mobile solution provider HyprLoco.

The joint solution notifies McAlister’s Deli servers when a customer is on their way to pick up an order, and pulls up the customer’s order on the QSR system when they are on site, in line or at the drive-thru window. This enables the staff to prioritize orders and delight customers with freshly prepared food.

"I really think this technology is going to be everywhere,” said Matt Luis, IT lead of Southwest Deli Group, parent company of top performing franchise group of McAlister’s Deli. “We are getting notifications, we are seeing an increase in speed, we are seeing an increase in our effectiveness to greet a first-time guest."

At the center of McAlister’s streamlined customer experience is its location-aware mobile app. Customers use the app’s call-ahead or mobile ordering feature to place their order.

Individual McAlister’s restaurants then establish geofences that trigger notifications when the customer’s device enters the designated area, such as the parking lot entrance or the drive-thru lane. A geofence is completely software-based and requires no additional infrastructure. With Bluedot’s proprietary location technology, the restaurants could go beyond traditional geofence boundaries of 100 meters wide and get down to a precise virtual line at the drive-thru.

Combining advanced analytics and precise geofencing, the partnership provides critical analytics to quick-serve and fast-casual restaurants in real time.

"Precise location technology is reshaping the quick-serve restaurant model to provide an even faster and more convenient experience,” says Emil Davityan, Co-Founder of Bluedot. “We’ve been able to deliver a market-leading outcome by harnessing the power of location to both enhance the customer experience and improve operational efficiency for fast casual restaurants.”