According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, the definition of hangry is “becoming angry because you are feeling hungry”. Life today seems to be getting evermore hectic with people feeling under pressure (whether real or perceived) to get things done fast. And that includes the business of eating. For many it as become all about satisfying an immediate craving and the food service game has been doing a lot to help us do exactly this.
Think of a cup of coffee or tea and visions of a cookie joining the party tend not to be too far behind. You purchase a pack of cookies and take one or two. Or three. Done. But wait. We now have some cookies available in miniature versions in pouches which you can literally pour into your mouth. The same goes for some confectionery. We are literally being saved from having to bite or chew just that little bit more…
It is easy to think of McDonald’s as the founding father of fast-food but that honour actually goes to White Castle which was founded in 1921 in Wichita, USA. At the time, most people considered hamburgers to be low-quality but its founders decided to change the public’s perception of them. And this they did to great success. McDonald’s took the base idea, implemented an assembly-line system and the rest we know.
Worldwide, the market for food delivery stands at over $100 billion which is approximately 1% of the total food market and 4% of food sold through restaurants and fast-food chains. It is undergoing rapid change though now as new online platforms race to capture markets and customers.
Who knew that ordering delivery could be so tiring? It can be tedious calling a restaurant and ordering food. You might get put on hold and often have to talk over the background noise of a busy restaurant in full swing. Reading out your payment card number today can feel so last century and is enough to put some people off. Conversations could be overheard and ultimately why do we have to interact with people at all when we can order almost everything else without human interaction?
Consumers are accustomed to shopping online with maximum convenience and transparency and some forward-thinking companies have now extended this expectation of ours into the food delivery world. Thanks to the wonders of apps, we can today order food for delivery with just a few taps on a screen.
Whilst there is a rush for food delivery companies to either create apps designed to enhance their existing business or build their whole company proposition around one, app messaging alone cannot be expected to cut it. SMS has a huge role to play in driving client engagement, app adoption and maintaining loyalty.
Online food-delivery platforms are expanding the choices available to us at an astounding rate and with a level of convenience, we could have only dreamed of a few years ago. Without SMS in their corner though, the food delivery industry would not be a patch on what it has become.
27 years old next month (and often incorrectly regarded as being long in the tooth), SMS remains a true powerhouse and its star will continue to shine brightly.
Meet our team at Restaurant & Takeaway Innovation Expo in London, on 19-20th November and learn more about Mitto’s communication solutions that can bring your food delivery app better engagement. Our job here at Mitto is to continue bringing mobile engagement to you in a super-convenient way so you can meet the increasing expectations of your clients and we will continue to do exactly that. One app at a time…
