[DanielStraight]

I don't mean to be dense... but why would I want to order food on my phone? I'm reminded of Paul Graham's office hours video on TC. He asked one of the founders if his product solved the biggest problem in his life. I don't think there's a single person on Earth whose biggest problem in life is, "I have to tell the cashier what I want to eat before I can get fast food."

[awj]

Phrasing it as "solving the biggest problem" is a little ... grandiose, though. How can you even quantify such a thing? Why should I swing for that fence when the problem is likely "bigger" for me because I am abnormally impaired at dealing with it?

I think there's an ad-hoc, informally specified set of standards for when a problem is "big enough" that people will pay to have it solved. What you're looking for is something within that range where you can out-executing the competition. Searching for "the biggest problem" oversatisfies the first half of that proposition at the expense of the second.

All that said, I find little inconvenience in the current fast food ordering process. Often there is a language barrier, but a combination of numbered meals and ambivalence towards picking off what I don't want solves that issue.

Possibly the restaurants could find value in making the experience "good enough" to keep me from going down the street and paying more at $fancy_restaurant where ordering is (relatively) hassle-free? I'm not convinced that can be done via phone in the lowest-common-denominator fashion of fast food.

[MatthewPhillips]

I don't think The Melt is doing this right, but it could be useful. Let's say you ordered it from an app that sends the restaurant your GPS coordinates at the time of the order. It then continues to send your coordinates as you travel to the restaurant.

On their end their software computes an estimated arrival time allowing them to precisely time cooking to be fresh and ready for you to eat when you arrive.

[DanielStraight]

That makes a lot more sense. I still don't think I'd use it ("fast food isn't fast enough" is not a complaint I've ever made), but at least I can understand why someone would.

[hugh3]

"fast food isn't fast enough" is not a complaint I've ever made

Really? I just went down to Cheeseboard Pizza to get a slice, but the line was too long, so I went somewhere else. If I could have ordered and paid while I walked and then just picked it up when I got there, that would have been sweet.

Mind you, I'm pretty impatient.

[blasdel]

Just get their phone number and call ahead for takeout — it's pretty common here in Seattle even for places that don't deliver or even have a counter to order at.

There are some terrific sit-down restaurants that have tons of excess kitchen capacity.

[hugh3]

Heh, that'd never work at Cheeseboard. They make great pizza, actually, but:

a) They only make one type of pizza per day,

b) You stand in a line which always goes out the door in order to order it

c) Same line for eat-in or take-away.

They have a constant stream of pizzas coming out of the ovens and getting cut up. When you're standing in line all you're waiting for is for the guy at the front to find out how many slices everyone wants and to take their money.

[krakensden]

When they did their big remodel, they really should have added space for a second cashier.

[matwood]

I think you're right in a traditional fast food sense (McDs, Wendy's, etc...), but there are a lot of sorta fast food restaurants around now. I'm thinking a Chipotle, Noodles, Panera type of business their customers could make use of ordering from a phone.

[Johngibb]

Chipotle already has an app that lets you order your burrito directly, pay from the phone, and skip the line to pick it up.

[corin_]

I have the mobile number of the nice waiter I know in a café down the road for me, when I want to order baguette(s) I give him a call and he kindly starts making them so that when I turn up I pay and collect, rather than waiting 5-10 minutes there.

I would LOVE to see a Starbucks mobile app allowing me to do the same thing, so when I get to the store I could pick up my drink and walk out. In fact it would amaze me if Starbucks don't offer this in the next 18 months, given their recent steps into mobile applications (though, annoyingly for me, they test everything in the US first, so more like 3+ years until it will come to the UK).

[mahyarm]

I've used the chipolte iphone app to order food. It lets me skip the line, not go through payment bs, not have the worker be grumpy when I ask for something special (especially chipolte workers, they tend to have an attitude) or have to wait for it to be prepared. I basically arrive say my name and my food is handed to me.