From the Food Travel USA News Desk: Restaurant Geo-Fencing Creepy or Convenient?
So your local Panera Bread restaurant is rolling out some equipment that have us a bit puzzled. Is this convenient or creepy? Used to be, you’d pull up and park, call someone inside the restaurant and they’d bring your order out to your car. Or worse yet, sit in the drive thru lane. Technology has now streamlined all that. Soon the store’s wi-fi system will be extended out into the parking lot and drive thru. Through a system called geo-fencing as long as you have your phone with you, and who doesn’t, it will automatically “sense” when you arrive and the order will be brought to you. It’s an opt-in feature on their app, but Panera is incentivizing it with goodies and discounts.
“In these unprecedented times, people are missing life’s small comforts, like going out for a meal with family. While we prioritize safety and convenience, we hope that Panera curbside can be a natural extension of the Panera warmth inside our bakery-cafes,”
Panera Bread CEO Niren Chaudhary said in a statement.
“In the new world as it emerges, we are focused on how we can best serve our customers and meet them where they are. Our latest technology and Wi-Fi capabilities, combined with enhanced protective measures at bakery-cafes, make Panera curbside a frictionless way to continue to enjoy the Panera experience you know and love.”
Let us know, is Restaurant Geo-Fencing Creepy or Convenient?
