Technology
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Sprint-Thru is an automated and optimized order pick up system that can
acceept and hand over unlimited number of orders simultaneously and can replace drive-thru,
counters and curbside order pick up to increase revenue,
to reduce wait times, service times and labor cost and can deliver freshly prepared orders
with 100% order accuracy and
any order system, any pos system and any delivery service provider can be used without hardware or
software integration.
The only limitation in a sprint-thru parking lot, in-store and cubside pick up is the space
limitation in respective areas and order prepation capacity.
The automation and optimization of front and back of the store operations
are done through many methods incorporated within sprint-thru system and with one or more
order status screens.
By using Sprint-Thru, merchants can promise their
customers that their orders will be 100% error free, ready for pick up
with an average pick up time in between 30 - 150 seconds and without apologies.
The average pick up time is based on average order preparation time of 90 seconds.
No app is required but supported. Can be interfaced with Merchants's apps.
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Since 1947 drive-thru has been in use, where a window is used to pass the order,
without much change and drive-thru studies have identified
the touch points to increase revenue. Unfotunately timings at these touch points cannot
be improved with drive-thrus.
To view benefits of reducing wait times, service times and increasing order accuracy, please view
the latest Drive-Thru Study 2024
conducted by INTOUCH INSIGHT and pubilshed in QSR Magazine or
click to view
summary of the study.
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According to Drive-Thru Study 2024, the potential gain per year per store for
every 5 seconds drop in total time would be $9,531.95, the potential loss per year
per store due to inaccuracies would be $84,312.61, the potential loss per year per
store with out a suggestive sell would be $35,780.09 and the potential loss per year
per store for not being friendly would be $49,922.15.
Since 70% of Quick Service Restaurant sales is from parking lot order pick up, major brands
are spending significant resource to improve parking lot order pick up without much success.
To increase revenue at a substantially reduced initial and recurring costs Sprint-Thru
uses driveways with multiple ordering, payment and pickup stations and order status screens
instead of using one or more lanes with 3 stops in each lane namely ordering, payment and pickup windows.
When the number of parking lot pickup stations using ground transporters are not enough, merchants
can also use parking lot pickup station using drone transporters. Even though drone lockers
are readily available, drones delivering packages to drone lockers are not currently available. We
believe in the future drones delivering packages will start using drone lockers. Parking lot pickup
stations served by drones would use drone transporters in addition or in lieu of ground transporters.
Drone lockers will have a smart lock controlled door on the top of the locker where the drones can
open the door to deliver or pickup packages through an authentication system. Drone lockers will
also have a smart lock controlled door on the side of the locker where customers can open the door to
pickup or leave packages through an authenticated system.
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Drive-Thru Lane Pick-up
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Sprint-Thru Parking Lot Pick-up
Following are available options:
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Pickup stations without transporters
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Pickup stations with transporters
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Pickup stations with extended transporters
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Pickup stations with drone transporters
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Counter Ordering & Counter Pick-up
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Mobile Kiosk (iPoster) Ordering & Locker Pick-up
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Even though only 30% of Quick Service Restaurant sales is from in-store order pick up, major brands
are spending resources to improve in-store order pick up without success.
To increase revenue at a substantially reduced initial and recurring costs merchants can use
Sprint-Thru to accept unlimited in-store and pick up orders from unlimited number of channels.
Sprint-Thru uses iposters with qr codes and telephone numbers (mobile phone kiosks) with payment
terminals instead of using counters and computer based self service kiosks.
Sprint-Thru uses smart lockers instead of using employee managed counters to hand over take-out
and delivery orders.
Sprint-Thru also uses curbside smart lockers instead of using runners to hand over curbside
orders.
Sprint-Thru also uses order status screens to help shoppers and delivery persons to find the
smart locker number to pick up the orders.
Sprint-Thru also supports out-sourcing of order process, after hour pick up and after hour sales.
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Here are some of the methods which are hallmark of Sprint-Thru
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Parking Lot
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Non-Clustered Lockers
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Since clustered lockers, similar to
the ones used in locations such as Home Depot, Little Caesars
and the like,
use a centralized shareable keypad for a group of
lockers, they cannot be used for parking lot pickup and
cannot be used for in-store pick up without asking customers
to wait in line to access the keypad.
So, non-clustered lockers
which are individual autonomous
devices that have dedicated key pads and are considered to
be IoT (internet of things) devices, are used.
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IPoster QR Code & Payment Terminals
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Since computer based ordering kiosks cannot be used, merchants can display
iPosters with QR Code at self-serve ordering stations to use in-house or out sourced
ordering systems and save employee resource at the location.
For those who do not want to manually enter payment information in the ordering systems,
merchants can also provide payment terminals at the self-serve ordering stations.
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ByPass Speaker & Out Source
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When shoppers are using employee assisted ordering station to place an order,
'ByPass Speaker' option will be provided and shoppers can use their own mobile phones to place
orders for clear communication instead of using speakers provided at the employee managed
order stations. 'ByPass Speaker' option can use off the location source to manage employee
managed order stations. 'ByPass Speaker' option can also be used with PBX systems, so that cals can be rolled over to
any available operator assigned to manage employee managed order stations.
The surrounding noice makes the speaker communication unclear and
study shows that unclear communication increases order inaccuracies and
increases pick up times.
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Estimated Pickup Time
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Providing estimated pick up time at the time of placing the order will be a great customer
service. Shoppers can confirm the orders based on estimated pick up time. When shoppers
place advance orders or at the location orders using self-serv station or at the
location using employee assisted station, shoppers will be provided with an estimated
pick up time. Upon knowing the estimated pick up time, the shoppers
will have a choice to place the order
or modify the order.
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Skip The Payment Window
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'Skip The Payment Window' method will be used where customers can make payments using terminals provided
at self-serv and at employee managed order stations.
Customers using self-serv order stations can also use their mobile devices to make the payment.
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Know Ahead
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'Know Ahead' option available for advance order and delivery customers to know
the status ahead and can reach the location just in time to
pick up the order.
In addition to 'Know Ahead', advance order customers can also
'Update Ahead' before the order is prepared.
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Order Status Screens
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Order Status screens display real time at each step
in prepaing each order and current estimated pick up time.
Arriving shoppers and delivery persons can immediately drive to
pick up station or self-serv ordering station or employee assisted
ordering station and the average wait time will be 0 to 30 seconds.
When ready customers bypass not ready customers, the average service
time will not be more than preparation time plus 60 seconds.
Even the fastest merchant (Taco Bell) in the study had an average total
time of 255.78 seconds.
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First Ready First Served
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Instead of using 'First Come First Served' method,
'First Ready First Served' method will be used which would allow order ready customers
to by pass
order not ready customers to reduce pick up times and
not to cause any traffic jam.
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Driveways
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Instead or using drive-thru lanes to reach ordering station, payment window, pick up window and then exit where
shoppers could block the traffic, driveways are used to reach ordering stations or waiting areas or pick up
stations where customers cannot block the traffic.
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Single Task
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Instead of employees multi-tasking with tasks such as taking orders, taking payment,
preparing orders and wait for customers to pick up at the window which is referred to as
'Prepare & Wait', employees will perform
a single task which is 'Prepare & Leave' where employees can prepare the orders and leave the prepared orders inside
a locker and leave and less head count will be required.
'Prepare & Leave' will reduce the wait time to increase the revenue and will reduce
the employee head count to reduce the employee cost.
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Suggestive Sell
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Self-serv stations can be used to implement 'Profile Based Suggestive Selling'
through the ordering systems. The ordering
system will be able to receive the profile information and the past
order history of the shoppers accessing the self-serv stations.
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Time Recordings
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Timings at various touch points such as at entrance, ordering stations, wait stations, pick up stations and
exit for each and every transaction is recorded.
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After Hour Pick Up & Sales
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Shoppers and delivery persons can pick up already placed orders and not picked up during normal open hours.
Merchants can sell unsold goods after normal open hours.
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No Text, Email or Data Breach
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Since the locker code is known to the customer and to the merchant,
no texting or emailing is used to transmit locker code.
Also, data breach will never
occur because employees will never receive sensitive information like
mobile phone number or email address.
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Auto Pilot
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If the delivery service provider accepted an 'Auto Pilot' option from the
the buyer of the delivery order, then the buyer of the delivery order
would have provided the smart locker
information of the buyer of the delivery order to the delivery service provider.
If the delivery service provider accepted an 'Auto Pilot' option from the
the buyer of the delivery order, then delivery service provider would set the one-time
code for the smart locker of the buyer of the delivery order by using an API provided
by the smart locker service provider.
If the delivery service provider accepted an 'Auto Pilot' option from the
the buyer of the delivery order, then the delivery person at the location of the
buyer of the delivery order would enter the one-time code to unlock the smart
locker of the buyer of the delivery order.
The 'Auto Pilot' option would eliminate the need for the buyer of the delivery order to
set the one-time code for the smart locker installed at the location of the buyer of the
delivery order and would also expediate the process of safely delivering the order for the
delivery person.
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Drone Station
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Ground transporter
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Ground transporters can be used to move the packages from
preparation area to drone lockers where the package will be
picked up by drones.
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Drone Transporters
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Drone transporters can be used to transport the packages from
a drone locker stationed at a starting point to drone locker stationed
at a end point.
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Starting & End Point
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The starting and end point for the drones to transport
the package may be far way in different parking lots.
This would enable multiple merchants to transport packages to
common parking lots, such as parking lots near major highways.
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Future Product
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Even though drone lockers are currently available amd can be
customized based on the needs of individual drone delivery
service providers, currently no drone service provider is using
the drone lockers.
This can change in the near future.
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In-Store
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Estimated Pickup Time
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Providing estimated pick up time at the time of placing the order will be a great customer
service. Shoppers can confirm the orders based on estimated pick up time. When shoppers
place advance orders or at the location orders using iposters or at the
counter, shoppers will be provided with an estimated
pick up time. Upon knowing the estimated pick up time, the shoppers
will have a choice to place the order or modify the order.
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ByPass Counter
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When shoppers use iposters to place an order or sign-in to pick up an order already
placed, shoppers are bypassing counters.
When shoppers place an order with an employee over the phone, shoppers are bypassing counters.
When shoppers use their mobile devices to make payment for the orders placed using the iposter,
shoppers are bypassing counters.
When shoppers use payment terminals for the orders placed using the iposter or over a telephone
call, shoppers are bypassing counters.
When delivery persons use iposter to sign-in to pick a delivery order, delivery persons
are bypassing counters.
When shoppers and delivery persons use a smart locker to pick up an order,
the shoppers and delivery persons are bypassing the counters.
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Out Source
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Because the QR Code in the iposter can be linked not only to in-house ordering
system but also to external ordering systems, the order process can be out souced.
Because the call to order system can be forwarded not only to employeee managed telephone
but also to external telephone or pbx, the order process can be out souced.
Even when an order is placed using iposter or telephone call, the payment can be made using
the payment terminal provided at the location.
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Know Ahead
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'Know Ahead' option is available for advance order customers
and delivery persons to know
the status of orders ahead and can reach the location just in time to
pick up the order.
In addition to 'Know Ahead', advance order customers can also
'Update Ahead' before the order is prepared.
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iPosters
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Iposters are posters printed on any medium and displayed at one or more
spots in the location. The ipostes would display a QR Code and optional
additional message that would enable customers to place a new order or to
sign-in to pick up an already placed order. The QR Code printed on the
iposters can also be used by delivery persons to sign-in to pick up a
delivery order.
Instead or using counters and computer kiosks, customers can use iposter to
place a new order or sign-in to pick up an already placed order.
Instead of using counters, delivery persons can use iposters to sign-in.
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Single Task
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Instead of employees multi-tasking with tasks such as taking orders, taking payment,
preparing orders and wait for customers to pick up at the counter which is referred to as
'Prepare & Wait', employees will perform
a single task which is 'Prepare & Leave' where employees can prepare the orders and leave
the prepared orders inside a locker and leave.
'Prepare & Leave' will reduce the wait time to increase the revenue and to reduce
the employee head count to reduce the employee cost.
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Order Status Screens
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Order Status display screens display real wait time at each step
in prepaing each order and current estimated pick up time.
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Time Recordings
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Timings at various touch points such as at scanning at the QR Code, pick up locker and
exit for each and every transaction is recorded.
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Suggestive Sell
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Iposters can be used to implement 'Profile Based Suggestive Selling'
through the ordering systems. When an app is used to scan the QR
Code in the iposters, the ordering
system will be able to receive the profile information and the past
order history of the shoppers using the iposters.
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