Chicken lovers can now skip the line at eight Chicago-area Chick-fil-A locations by ordering and prepaying through the fast-food chain’s free smartphone app, the company said Monday.
Chick-fil-A also announced the nationwide rollout of its mobile payment system, which lets customers load money into their accounts and pay at the register by scanning a personal, in-app QR code. That function launched in Chicago in September 2014.
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The company, based in College Park, Ga., is expanding its mobile ordering platform from select locations to 130 restaurants in six cities. Customers using the app can pick up orders at a dedicated counter, request food to be delivered to their table, or have it brought out to their waiting car.
Employees only start preparing the food when a customer checks in at the restaurant via the app, said Khalilah Cooper, who leads Chick-fil-A’s digital ordering strategy.
Customers can find lines daunting, particularly during peak hours and in the drive-thru, Cooper said.
“What we found is there’s a perception that if the line is long, there’s a long wait,” Cooper said. She said the app could entice customers to choose a meal from Chick-fil-A regardless of lines.
Survey data shows that about half of mobile device owners wish more restaurants offered an app to order ahead and skip lines, said Jordan McKee, 451 Research senior analyst for mobile payments. He said more quick-service restaurants are offering or testing mobile payment or ordering solutions.
Some merchants, like Chick-fil-A, ask customers to load money onto their apps in an effort to save on credit card processing fees, McKee said. That tends to work for loyal customers but may put off new diners who are hesitant to commit funds to a single restaurant brand.
The order-ahead option may offset that hesitation but, “the fact that you still have to dedicate funds ahead of time toward the application is a bit of a drawback in a lot of instances,” McKee said.
Lauren Silich, owner and operator of the Chick-fil-A at Chicago and Wabash avenues, likes the order-ahead option and the ability for customers to make requests as specific as asking for three packets of salt, for example.
Silich also said customers can place orders whenever they have time, even well in advance of when they want to pick it up, because the food will be prepared only when the customer checks in.
“I think it allows us, especially in a downtown environment, to compete in speed,” Silich said.
Chick-fil-A expects to make mobile ordering available in its more than 1,600 locations nationwide by the end of 2016, Cooper said.