Quick-service restaurant customers are embracing ordering technology and stored value cards, according to EMN8 Inc., which designs self-service platforms for the foodservice industry.
The firm commissioned Harris Interactive to use its Quick Query omnibus product to survey 2,230 adults aged 18 and older — 1,904 of whom had consumed fast food in the past 12 months — between Feb. 19 and Feb. 21, about their attitudes toward food ordering technologies.
More than two in five respondents, or 43 percent, said they would be interested in using their computers to order from a quick-service restaurant in the next year, and that figure jumps to 48 percent for people aged 18 to 44.
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Among all respondents, 30 percent said they’d like to place quick-service orders from their mobile devices.
“Consumers are extremely comfortable ordering goods online and, as generations grow up with mobile technology, they will increasingly want to engage with their favorite brands through this channel," EMN8 chief executive Perse Faily said in a press release. "It is increasingly clear that the food industry as a whole needs to embrace methods of interaction where they are comfortable. Through our research, it’s clear that QSRs can reach a broader audience by adapting to these desires.”
The survey found that ordering in person remains the norm, however. Even among the youngest people surveyed, aged 18-34, 81 percent of respondents ordered in person.
Younger consumers also responded more positively to the idea of restaurants remembering what kind of food they liked. Of survey takers aged 18-44, 55 percent said they were more likely to return to a QSR if their past orders were saved within the ordering system. Only 30 percent of consumers aged 45 and older agreed with that statement.
According to the survey, 77 percent of people who ate food from quick-service restaurants in the past 12 months would use stored value cards, or gift cards, if those cards also gave them benefits such as loyalty points or coupons.
Loyalty programs are more popular among older consumers, however. Among the 42 percent of respondents who said their favorite QSR did not provide loyalty rewards or frequent buyer programs, 48 percent of those aged 45 to 54 said they would like to see such programs, compared to 38 percent of those aged 18 to 34.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
