Taco Bell Releases New App For Mobile Ordering

Taco Bell is joining the world of technology by being the most recent restaurant to develop an app for their customers to place mobile orders.

Currently, the app is being tested in five different restaurants in Southern California, and will be available for customers nationwide later this year.

Jeff Jenkins is the leader of Taco Bell’s mobile app, and says that they want their customers to have a unique experience when using the app. Jenkins explains that the app is very visual, and has an “Instagram feel.”

More than sixty percent of Taco Bell’s menu items will be available on the app, and they will be customizable. If you want to add something to an item, there is a place on the app to do so. Jenkins says that the app allows their customers to rid themselves of the “menu board anxiety.”

We’re putting the menu at your fingertips. When you drive up to the menu board and there are three cars behind you, there’s some menu board anxiety. What we’re doing is providing an opportunity to really explore the menu and customize a personalized product the way you want without the rush. You can order on your own time and pick it up when you’re ready.

After the customer customizes their order, they can put in the location where they would like to pick up their meal. The customer then chooses whether or not they want to dine in or go through the drive thru.

A lot of brands with mobile ordering ask [for a pick-up time], but what happens if you’re stuck in traffic? You get cold food. We pride ourselves on hot, fresh food, so it’s pretty simple. You head to the store and when you arrive, you select a pick-up method and we start making your food.

The new app has been two years in the making. They originally tested the app 18 months ago, and quickly realized that they could easily merge into this market. “Taco Bell has an unbelievable consumer fan base that is engaged on multiple platforms on social and digital and we’re constantly looking at what comes next in social and digital,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins reveals that their primary target market is the young millennials. “For these kids, it’s not whether you have a smartphone; it’s which smartphone do you have,” said Jenkins. Statistics show that 74 percent of customers ages 18-34 say they would order their takeout, or delivery, on a mobile device, if the option was available.

“Mobile is the biggest shift in QSR since the drive thru,” said Jenkins. “If you can get 10 million people to download your app, you’re putting a portal to Taco Bell in 10 million pockets.”

According to NRN.com, McDonalds and Chik-fil-A are also in the process of developing a mobile app.

[Image via Bing]