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With the COVID-19 pandemic curve flattening, many business owners wonder when they can re-open their doors and get back in action. While it’s hard to say when any given restaurant or café is safe to continue operations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put out a set of guidelines to help businesses be responsible when they do re-open their doors.

For quick service restaurants (QSRs), an ongoing goal is to provide faster service and better products all without sacrificing the customer experience. And on that score, solutions like mobile order ahead offer some clear advantages for customers who are interested in getting in and out fast.

The coronavirus pandemic is bringing all of us into uncharted territory and order ahead may be the only solution right now for restaurants. Among all of the economic uncertainties that are developing by the day, it’s understandable that small business owners are worried about the future. As we’re seeing, the COVID-19 pandemic is hitting the food service/restaurant industry particularly hard, with many businesses struggling to keep their doors open in the wake of social distancing and forced closures.

Mobile order ahead was once the exclusive domain of brick-and-mortar quick service restaurants (QSRs). Now, mobile order ahead is becoming a viable channel for food trucks. There’s a clear consumer preference for mobile ordering that’s pushing the industry to a $38 billion valuation by 2020—but such high adoption rates indicate that brick-and-mortar businesses aren’t the only ones getting on board.

So, you’ve finally taken the leap and moved forward with your mobile order ahead app. Your logos are in place, the menus look great, and everything is ready to go. With all the effort you’ve already put into setting up the app and getting it ready, you want to make sure that your customers know about it.

Large QSR leaders are using mobile order ahead apps in ways that are completely changing the foodservice industry. In the age of instant gratification, customers are turning away from the traditional, wait-in-line method of ordering food and moving toward more efficient, mobile-driven operations.

Mobile order ahead technology continues to carve out its slice of the QSR pie, and for good reason. Customers are accustomed to having it their way, and customer preferences for ordering food lean toward mobile these days.

The idea of placing a food order ahead of pickup is nothing new. What is new to the restaurant landscape, and especially the fast food and quick service restaurant (QSR) space, is mobile order ahead.

Who doesn’t love online ordering for restaurants? It’s easier than phone ordering, it’s faster than waiting in line, and best of all, you get in and out of the restaurant faster.