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Comment by tatsuke95 | Hacker News Reader

So, this is online ordering on your phone?

>"Users skip to the front of the line, receive their item, and get on with their lives."

How will that work in practice? I'm quite sure if I'm constantly skipped over in line by people getting priority over me because they have an iPhone app, I'll discontinue business at the establishment.

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You order on your phone, you wait, you pick up your food. If people don't order in advance then they stand in line.

Its a long overdue concept. Being able to have my order ready without waiting would make me far more likely to eat out.

>"Its a long overdue concept. Being able to have my order ready without waiting would make me far more likely to eat out."

Maybe I'm missing something, but I've been placing orders online for years. Order, go pick it up (or even have it delivered!). Obviously the app could simplify that by having all my restaurants there in one place, but I'm not sure the "concept" is new.

This is the essence of take-out. Except, on the phone instead of calling, faxing(!) or ordering online. See: chipotle

The original online ordering systems for pizza places would actually generate a fax to the restaurant with your order.

Ah, i remember reading about xpizza. The manpage included

  BUGS:

  Some of the staff at the pizza place
  don't know how to operate the fax machine.

There are plenty of websites to order take-away (from multiple restaurants) in the UK:

http://hungryhouse.co.uk/ (with iPhone app) http://www.just-eat.co.uk/ http://eatstudent.co.uk/ http://www.eatitnow.co.uk/ (with iPhone app)

All support online payments when you order.

I think a difference is you pay when you order. This means less risk for the merchant (also, a slightly faster pickup).

I worked right next to one of the pilot stores when Subway started order online about 12 years ago.

It worked pretty well. About 10% of the people used it and since everything was made & paid it took a few seconds to walk up and get your order.

The trick is getting the employees to encourage the behavior. The Subway workers would shout every few minutes things like "People that ordered online please come to the front" so that everyone else knew what was going on and people didn't feel to embarrassed for cutting in line.

The thing is you're not cutting them. You just grab a bag from some guy. No pushing in to pay real quick for your pickup.

I have no issue with that.

Some places, like Maggianos Little Italy in Santana Row even have a separate will-call/take-out type pickup window.

If it makes you feel better, my typical experience with online ordering systems is arriving at the restaurant, walking up to the cashier for pickup, saying "I ordered online" and getting a blank stare while they go back and check the computer, and then waiting around for 10 minutes while they make my order (after everyone else already in line, of course). So in practice, it may not be so frustrating for non-users. :)

I'm not sure this app would save those establishments

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