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Taco Bell's upcoming mobile app includes GPS locator for timely hot food

Summary: Restaurants are starting to bring advanced ordering functionality to your mobile phone and one of the latest companies expanding their testing is Taco Bell.

I started ordering food from my smartphone with the Domino's app last year and this capability continues to expand to other restaurants. Nation's Restaurant News reports that Taco Bell is taking their efforts to the next level with expanded testing in California in the next few weeks.

My first thought was that it could be a rather dangerous practice if people try to order on their way to a restaurant while they are driving and that I rarely wait more than a couple minutes while ordering at Taco Bell. Taco Bell officials said their primary demographic is young Millenials and since many of these people have smartphones in hand getting more exposure to the restaurant should increase sales.

They report that two of five people use their smartphones to find a place to eat and that is something I do regularly. As long as people are using their phone to find and navigate to a restaurant it makes sense to expand that to ordering on the go.

I understand that Chipotle Mexican Grill has supported mobile ordering since 2009 and continues to improve that experience.

The Taco Bell mobile app looks to be full featured with the ability to easily order whatever you want, including customizations to their menu items, and decide when you are going to pick it up. The app uses the GPS receiver to recognize where you are and gives the kitchen a signal to start prepping it when you are near. Now that is the kind of functionality I expect from my smartphone and I am glad to see someone is turning it into a real personal assistant.

What restaurant would you like to see with a smartphone ordering application?

Topics: Mobility, Android, iOS, Windows Phone



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  • Needs more

    Should also show locations of nearest certified heart center, as well as nearby pharmacies.
  • Del Taco

    I would love to see Del Taco use this......I no longer go to Taco Bell, because the food is not fresh. Del Taco has gone to making most items (beans, grating cheese, etc.) fresh in the restaurant each day and it makes a HUGE difference.
  • Why

    does anyone care about this crap? Why gum up my phone with a Taco Bell app that does the same thing as Google Maps or a GPS?

    I can understand mobile ordering, but why do they need an app for it?
    Jacob VanWagoner
    • @Jacob VanWagoner

      Agreed! I hate that absolutely every business now is pushing native apps rather than just building mobile sites that work. Facebook is one of the worst, but they're all guilty - I don't want my phone's storage and screen space cluttered up by glorified website shortcuts that I won't even visit that often.
  • Stay charged

    You'll want one of these, too.
    Robert Hahn
  • GPS

    Gottta love that GPS technology thats for sure.