This morning the iPhone App Store was graced with what amounted to the Holy Grail for some burrito lovers: Chipotle on the iPhone. Using the new application, users were able to customize their orders to spec, checking off their favorite beans, meats, and toppings, all to be sent instantly to a nearby restaurant for pickup. The story has been covered by dozens of blogs, and is currently on the Digg front page.
Unfortunately it seems that the app was not fully baked (or wrapped, if you want to get cheesy). Within a few hours, it was gone from the App Store. In an attempt to find out if this was just a temporary bug or something more final, we got in touch with Sequence, the company that is building the app for Chipotle.
As it turns out, the company decided to pull the application after a few hours because of unexpected demand that was overloading its servers. User requests were timing out with enough frequency that the team decided it would rather hold off until it could offer a more enjoyable and reliable experience. The current goal is to have it back on the App Store in two weeks, along with some cosmetic changes (many of the user reviews that were left while the app was still available had some complaints regarding the user experience).
However brief, the appearance of the Chipotle app on the App Store raises a few questions. First and foremost: why aren’t there more restaurant apps already out there? Given the increasingly large number of consumers and their willingness to download from the App Store, it’s surprising that we haven’t seen similar applications from Domino’s, Pizza Hut, or any number of large restaurant chains.
According to Sequence’s Tac Leung, developing an application that can work around the country is actually much more difficult than it sounds, and has taken months to develop and implement. Besides having to locate the closest restaurants, the application needs to also keep track of pricing differences between locations. And each Chipotle restaurant had to effectively replace its online backend to allow for mobile orders (the overhauled system also introduced an enhanced browser-based online ordering system that went live in October).
The Sequence team also had to deal with creating a transaction system that could save credit card information securely but was also convenient - something that he says is difficult to do from a basic iPhone application. To deal with security issues, the Chipotle application stores credit card information on a server that is accessed through a browser after entering your Chipotle user ID and password.
For those users who are lucky enough to already have the Chipotle application, it will continue to function until the new application is released. The rest of us will be forced to continue ordering our burritos the old fashioned way.
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Why don’t they just use paypal or devpay? Why deal with the hassle of creditcards?
I have never heard of a restaurant that uses paypal. Anyone? Maybe the time is now.
Because PayPal takes a bigger chunk out of a purchase than a credit card does and does not immediately transfer said amounts to your bank account.
“…does not immediately transfer said amounts to your bank account.”
neither do credit cards….
Not true, a larger business can easily get PayPal direct payment rates *below* credit card rates - as low as 1.25% at high volumes..
Paypal?
Why don’t you just pick up the phone and call the people for a pick up order?
It’s a great idea, they just needed to hire a company that could actually code properly and prepare for a lot of server demand at once.
Seems like a common “problem” … releasing apps that are not fully ready for market … too often we read in the app’s description that the app doesn’t do this or that, the app has known bugs, etc and that updates are coming soon to fix these problems … hmmm, a bit strange.
Anyways, Chipotle is solid - so eager to see it’s return and other food establishments get with the times and release their own apps.
I am lucky enough to have gotten the app over the weekend and used it to pick up lunch today. Their server did seem a bit sluggish but over all a great experience.
I must say I was very impressed that this did not seem to amount to an ultimately faxed order and did seem to have inserted itself into their order system.
Although Chipotle being a make it while you watch operation may find this change of workflow something that requires a bit of adaption.
I agree that there is something to be said for this type of application and transaction.
I was sort of surprised that someone did not design something that would service multiple vendors. This seems a natural for the makers of the POS systems these restaurants use since they would have the least amount of issues interfacing.
I agree with you on this. One of my first thoughts was there should be an app that has multiple restaurants included. People might initially download the Chipotle app but what happens when all restaurants add their apps to the app store. People don’t want to have 30 apps on their phone for just restaurants. At least I dont.
http://scobleizer.com/2007/11/.....opers-but/
First, what an idiot.
“However brief, the appearance of the Chipotle app on the App Store raises a few questions. First and foremost: why aren’t there more restaurant apps already out there?”
Because there aren’t enough iPhone/Android developers out there.
Most of the people that develop these applications do something else by day. Until we see the proper investments in these platforms by major companies, we will be stuck with hobbiest apps only.
I for example have to work at my day job and develop my Android and G1 app by night and weekend. That is actually the majority of the developers that are doing these apps.
The platforms are complex enough where developers could specialize in them now and the dynamic has to change at the company level.
The budgets have to switch from browser based websites and databases to mobile clients on iPhone and G1.
Managers and bosses who don’t write the code, don’t get it yet. They may see an employee or 2 writing these apps, but they don’t yet understand why. They don’t understand that this is the next computing platform of this century.
“Android and G1 app by night and weekend”
That should say my Android and iPhone app by night and weekend. I do so with a small team including a foreign graphic design artist and friends.
we don’t care.
Doesn’t it take about 2 minutes to get what you want from Chipotle?
You’ll just end up looking like a dick asking if your online order is ready or not.
Seriously. The reason there aren’t a lot of restaurant apps out there is because there is no need for them. Fast food restaurants like Chipotle are already fast enough. I mean, have you been to a Chipotle lately? Ford would be proud. In addition, restaurants like Chipotle prepare their food to order and when you show up it is HOT. Who would want a soggy old burrito that has been sitting on the counter?
I imagine this is best suited to the sort of people who fax orders in. Who wants to fart around with a fax machine when they can just interface directly with the restaurant’s ordering system?
Similar restaurant apps are perfectly suited to restaurants that take orders of the phone as it will likely speed the transaction and reduce human errors.
In certain cases, an online system may be provide a nicer user experience, but the user still has to tediously enter all of the orders. In addition, while Chipotle’s menu offers a rigid selection and is built around consumer customization, other restaurants will run into problems because their menus are more dynamic; e.g. it would be hard to program for uses cases along the lines of an order for a hamburger, medium-rare, cheddar, no onions, extra pickles, lettuce on the side, and substitute a salad for fries. Also, for large chains especially, the TCO on something like this is massive. It may pay off LONG term, but the restaurant business is quite fickle, and it’s probably cheaper and easier to just have someone working the phones.
no, really, have YOU been to a chipotle lately? yeah if you’re there on some off-hour like 3pm, it only takes a few minutes to get your order. But If you go during prime lunch/dinner time you can easy spend a good 10-15 minutes in line.
I agree. Chipotle is most busy at lunch time so you could maybe save some time by using this app, but if you are pre-ordering food for all of your collegues, you would be better off using their website (on an actual pc).
To Gebadia encouraging restaurants to use Paypal - all I can say is Boo! I hate eBay, therefore I hate Paypal. How are debit cards a hassle? Oh, I’m sorry, you said credit card, are you really buying burritos on interest?
Think of the reward points.
new. york. city.
lines are long, patience is short.
Some of us value the concept of time, obviously, you do not. Realizing the value is subjective, although in your case, judging by your commentary, you may not be as fortunate… Being uneducated could very well make you look like a dick as well.
I think one thing that can be drawn from this is the benefit of building online services (be it online ordering, social networking, a web app) around standard interfaces, like SOAP.
If you do, then adding mobile clients (or indeed desktop clients) that integrate with your existing web interface is very easy indeed.
It’s also an approach avoids unnecessary code duplication between web, mobile and desktop clients and allows you to focus on making sure each app is the best app it can be for the target platform in question.
Building an API from the start can also be less challenging than trying to solve all the problems at once (where the temptation is often to try and cram inappropriate behavior into the UI) and can help keep the platform design maintainable and robust by splitting the problems in to bite sized chunks, each a distinct logical step.
Chipotle should start delivery.
Why are there so many iPhone apps, when a website would do the exact same thing? Wasn’t the point of the iPhone that it gives good web? Now we all need specialized applications that do nothing more than very simple websites. I think they’d be better off, just creating websites that are optimized for iPhone that do the same stuff.
I think you’re spot on. Look at Japan - the only apps for mobile are games - everything else is on the mobile web. it helps that all phones have flash of course…
Really? Do you have an iPhone? Have you tried the App Store and used a lot of web apps? The browser based apps can’t hold a candle to the user experience that the native applications bring to the table. The success of the app store speaks for itself.
Iphone is a necessary tool for me so I think that is a good idea eat a meal by a iphone application. =)
I feel bad for the people who have to make the burrito’s. This is going to make the dinner rush twice as hard. Brings to mind some “Waiting” clips…. Haha
5 of us tried it out in Boulder last night.
You can save your preferences, and order it with a preferred pick up time.
A few glitches, but overall, pretty slick.
Chipotle is nasty. I feel bad for those who haven’t had the pleasure to eat at taco trucks or real taquerias.
DineBlast Mobile works with virtually any Wi-Fi SmartPhone and does not require an app download. Participating restaurants have a Wi-Fi network called “DineBlast Mobile” and you use your browser to access the ordering screens. Don’t worry iPhone users, we designed a special Safari UI just for you.
The major advantage of DineBlast Mobile is that it works across any number of restaurants and is not specific to a restaurant brand. Your order history is saved and can be “faved”. Dineblast Mobile offers 1-Touch reordering, so you never have to reenter your payment info.
Once you create an account, your device will be automatically recognized at all participating restaurants, even if you’ve never visited that restaurant before. You can even have multiple devices tied to a single account.
DineBlast Mobile works for quick-service, fast food, table-service restaurants and stadium venues (in seat service).
We also have a “curbside” mode that let’s you order without leaving your car.
For table-service restaurants, you can order right from the table before your server ever gets there to greet you. If you’re in a hurry to leave, you can pay the guest check right from your device (even if you didn’t order from it). We also have a check sharing feature that works great for large parties where one person is picking up the tab, but everyone wants to use their own device for ordering.
Please encourage your favorite restaurant to implement DineBlast Mobile!
There are many more cool features…here’s a demo:
http://www.softtouchpos.com/DineBlast/index.html
http://www.reuters.com/article.....BW20081216
Burrito lovers don’t eat at chipolte
LiveOnTheGo.com has online ordering site for the iphone. Works great if you live in southern California.
Please stop. Thanks.
yeah im interested, could you send me some burittos, container shipping will be alright,