Tech Table Wednesday, July 16, 2014
July 16, 2014
Justin: Welcome to MPA’s Tech Table. I’m Justin.
Diana: And I’m Diana.
Justin: And we’re your hosts. We’ll be serving up a heaping spoonful of all things tech.
Diana: We promise it’ll be easy to digest.
Diana: Hello! Here we are on Wednesday.
Justin: It is Wednesday on the Tech Table, and today we’re going to talk about two of our favorite things; food and technology.
Diana: Oh yes!
Justin: That’s right, it’s a joyful occasion today.
Diana: [LAUGHS]
Justin: So we’re gonna look at a few restaurant chains that have upped their online game. And the three restaurants that we’re specifically gonna look at today are Subway, which of course is subway.com. It’s the sandwich shop. And then Pizza Hut, which of course is pizzahut.com, which is, you know, a pizza place.
Diana: Pizza.
Justin: And then Applebee’s, which is applebees.com.
Diana: They have apples and bees there?
Justin: No.
Diana: No.
Justin: I don’t know that they have any apple…they used to have…
Diana: They used to have that apple dumpling dessert.
Justin: Yep.
Diana: We’re kind of Applebee’s pros here.
Justin: We are.
[LAUGHTER]
Justin: Well we just…you know, you know what you’re gonna get if you go there.
Diana: Yeah, it’s true.
Justin: So that’s what we tend to do.
Diana: And they have them all over the country.
Justin: That’s right.
Diana: Anyway, yes, applebees.com.
Justin: So all three restaurants now have online ordering at almost all of their locations. So you simply place your order, pay by credit card and then pick it up. You don’t even pay at the restaurant.
Diana: That’s awesome.
Justin: You pay online with your credit card and then just pick the food up.
Diana: I need to try that.
Justin: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, it’s interesting. I mean, it’s gonna save some time. You know, you’re not gonna be standing in a long line at lunch. I mean, you know, and sometimes, especially…well, all three of these places, you can be there for a long time.
Diana: That’s true.
Justin: Just in the process of sitting down.
Diana: Yeah, so if you just plan ahead a little bit, you know, get online, either with your phone…I know a lot of these…at least Applebee’s has an app for your phone.
Justin: Right.
Diana: That you can get on and look at the menu. I was just doing that the other night. I didn’t try ordering, though.
Justin: I know, you should have.
Diana: I should have tried that. Yeah, yeah.
Justin: Yeah, I mean, it’s supposedly…it works great.
Diana: Yeah.
Justin: You know, and, you know, if you’re ordering for a group, especially, and especially when you think about something like Subway that you could have individual sandwiches for 12 people…that can be a nightmare.
Diana: Yes.
Justin: And they don’t even like it, really. When you come to the restaurant and you’re standing there, and I mean the people behind you, and you’re ordering 12 sandwiches.
Diana: Oh, yeah.
Justin: I mean, do you like to be the person standing behind the person ordering 12 sandwiches? No you don’t.
Diana: No, it’s better to get that order in sooner than later.
Justin: Exactly, so you just do it online now.
Diana: Awesome.
Justin: Pay in advance, order in advance and then just pick it up when you’re there.
Diana: Now, you know, when you order pizza, a lot of times you have these specialty requests, like, can I get half pepperoni, half cheese, and then chicken all over it?
Justin: Oh, that’s a special request, alright.
Diana: But, you know, you don’t have to worry about doing that online. They actually have that built into their online ordering system.
Justin: Right.
Diana: That you can do half and half toppings.
Justin: Yeah, so pizzahut.com when you’re ordering, you can do half and half toppings. That’s exciting.
Diana: Yeah.
Justin: Yeah, very cool. So, you know, basically, I mean, this is something that these large companies are doing.
Diana: Yes.
Justin: But there are small restaurants that also, you know, do this. They may not have the pay online solution.
Diana: Yeah, but they might have their menu, at least.
Justin: Right.
Diana: Or order.
Justin: And many, many restaurants have an online reservation option.
Diana: Yes.
Justin: You know, if you’re going to, you know, a large metropolitan area that has a lot of restaurants that require reservations, there’s the Opentable service. And that service, you know, you just…you create an account in Opentable, and then at any participating Opentable restaurant you can easily make your reservation. You can do it from your phone, and there’s a mobile app or anything.
Diana: Cool.
Justin: Yeah, there’s just a lot of new things happening in restaurant technology.
Diana: Yeah.
Justin: Yeah, so take some time and check those out. Until next time…
Diana: Take care.
Justin: Tech Table was brought to you by MPA of Bloomfield, Iowa, and God’s Country Radio. You can visit us online at askmpa.com.
Diana: If you have questions or comments, please send them to questions@askmpa.com. That’s questions@askmpa.com
Justin: And thanks for listening!
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