Red Robin Jumps On Board The Digital Ordering Train

While food chains like Starbucks and Domino’s Pizza have started to rev the engines of on-demand digital restaurant ordering, more players are starting to enter the arena.

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers is moving into the tech space with its first-ever digital ordering platform. It may be safe to say that most consumers don’t view fast-food chains as sit-down restaurants. Picking up a burger and fries on the way home from work or from a child’s soccer game is more likely the usual scenario.

With Red Robin’s new digital ordering system, people can enter in what they want on redrobin.com, prepay for their orders and pick up the food at the nearest location at a specific time. This new ordering capability will help the chain restaurant cut the wait time down.

Red Robin’s vice president, Jason Rusk, commented on the lack of time most people have in their schedules and the desire for expedited ordering. He said, “Consumers want ease of access in the order process, order pickup and every step of that experience. The reason you are ordering online is because you don’t have time to sit down in the restaurant.”

With research pointing towards more digital integration into the food industry, Red Robin is likely on the right track. Research firm the NPD Group showed that food orders made on the web or through mobile apps and text accounted for 1.9 billion food experiences, which was an 18 percent growth in 2016.