A national chain restaurant has chosen Utah as its testing ground for technology that could change the game for its consumer experience.
Customers at Chick-fil-A establishments across the state can now pay using their phone instead of cash or card. Earlier this week the corporation launched a new mobile payment app, testing it in four states including Utah’s 18 participating locations.
Cory Goettsche, Chick-fil-A franchise operator for the Logan Chick-fil-A store, said the company hopes to improve customer experience with the app by enabling faster and easier transactions.
“The idea is to order from your phone, pay from your phone, catering… pull up our menu, all the nutritional values—right there on an app,” Goettsche said.
With the technology boom of the last 20 years, companies have increasingly turned to technology with hopes of advancing business. Jonathan Choate, information technology manager at New Dawn Technologies, said these types of developments are able to be successful because the consumer base is present, a result of the widespread use of smart phones and other mobile technologies.
“We’ve had the ability to do a lot of these things in the past, but we didn’t have a consumer base that was familiar enough, in large enough percentages, in order to make them effective,” Choate said.
The success of the app will depend on its engineering and consumer appeal. Choate said the investment is a risk, but one that could pay off.
“The question is, how is this going to improve my experience? How am I going to be faster? How am I going to have a better experience,” said Choate.
If successful, Goettsche said the new payment app will be consolidated with Chick-fil-A’s existing app by the end of the year.