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Phone is still the best way to order pizza

dan.bulwinkle.net

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Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#421

Post by remir »

fragmede wrote: post #350
ioman wrote: post #340

My local pizza place in Seattle has moved the technology the other way. Here’s the dialog when I call. “Pagliacci Pizza, how can I help you?” “I’d like to order a pizza” “Sure thing. Is this John Smith?” “Yes” “Do you still live at 1234 Main Street” “Yes” “Would you like to order the same thing you did last time?” “Yes” “Ok, it’ll be there in 20 minutes” Even better, while you talk to the store you called, the order…

That's just calling a VoIP line so the caller ID comes up on a computer and loads the relevant entry from the CRM including order history, run by an experienced user.

This kind of thing is relatively easy to do on contact center solutions like Genesys.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#422

Post by Turing_Machine »

MAGZine wrote: post #355
Turing_Machine wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> hide the fact that the menu prices are often jacked up by 50% or more. Wheat in metric tonne lots direct from the farmer costs about $350-400/tonne, or about $0.35-$0.40/kg. Kroger enriched white bread costs about $3.00/kg, more than seven times as much. There are a lot of middlemen in there, each of which raises the price. On the other hand, I don't have to store a metric tonne of wheat, and maintain my own millin…

for places that never had delivery people, its a good proposition to expand their network and get food into more people's hands. ... but almost every pizza place has their own dedicated delivery people. In short, by using the middleman, you're scamming yourself (through higher costs, and worse delivery because you're using random/shared agents rather than dedicated), or you're scamming the business (who ends up havin…

> you don't care about money

See above. I "don't care about money" in this context in exactly the same way that I "don't care about money" by not buying my own wheat in tonne lots and milling it into flour myself. Yes, that would be considerably cheaper (if I ignored the value of my time and the associated storage costs) but it would be highly inconvenient, and I don't just spend enough on bread to make it worth my time.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#423

Post by Turing_Machine »

Spooky23 wrote: post #377
Turing_Machine wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Plus, shitty middlemen like DoorDash are gross Hmm... do you feel the same way about the middlemen who make it possible for you to buy bread without ordering the wheat direct from a farmer in 5,000 bushel lots, storing it, grinding it into flour, and then making it into bread? Everyone hates "middlemen", but if they're really not adding value they tend to get disintermediated fairly quickly. I remember the bad old…

No that’s very different as bakeries and flour mills add value to the commodity product. DoorDash pays the drivers well, so it’s using investor dollars to subsidize the service to entrench it and drive out competitive processes. Your argument was was the same as the Uber argument at the peak type period. When the Saudi sovereign wealth fund was kicking in $10-20 for each ride, the hype argument was we would not need…

> No that’s very different as bakeries and flour mills add value to the commodity product.

Uber adds value by letting me call a ride by clicking on an app, and then telling me when it has arrived, rather than making me call the cab dispatch office, wait on hold, and then constantly look out the door to see if the cab is there.

> Now, Uber costs more than the cabs did before.

Not here, it doesn't. In virtually every city, operating a cab required that one purchase or lease a medallion, and those were very expensive (up to $1 million in NYC). Now that was a pure rent-seeking racket.

Those medallions are still out there, by the way. If Uber is really charging more than a cab, then the cabs will come back and undercut them.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#424

Post by JakeAl »

marssaxman wrote: post #398
michaelcampbell wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is 100% backward from my experience. Having an account is a 1-time cost, and not only a small one, but one I do for hundreds of other things every day. Logging in is a keystroke that has my password manager auto type my username and password; again something I repeat daily. With the situation in the US at least, trying to get anyone on the phone is an exercise in frustration. The app (for me, so far) has always…

I have "account fatigue"; I am so tired of having to create accounts and log in to things - yes, it's something I repeat daily, and that's the problem. Just let me buy the damn pizza, or whatever it is! I always use the "guest" option when available.

I totally agree, especially when it comes to creating an account on a corporate/national app when the business I deal with is local only.

Having said that I think Domino's Pizza has a great process for ordering pizza on their web site where you build you own pizza and can then track the progress all the way to your doorstep.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#425

Post by Tempest1981 »

monocularvision wrote: post #409
Tempest1981 wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chipotle’s app always says your food will be ready in Their server needs a feedback channel from the stores. Or it should count the number of incoming items ordered per minute, and auto-adjust the "ready" time. Don't always show 5 minutes.

Yes, this. I am about ready to give up on Chipotle entirely because of the incredible lie that is their Ready to Pickup time. Last time I was there I would have saved time if I had just waited in their incredibly long line and ordered that way instead of doing them the favor of ordering ahead.

You can use their in-app chat to cancel your takeout order while waiting in that line, or so I hear.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#426

Post by astura »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #266
rustandstardust wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author's point isn't a good one. You have an "account" regardless. Putting in your name and e-mail is near irrelevant since he indicated it might be reasonable to provide a credit card. Unless he can say, "Large Pizza for Pickup, I have a CC", which is usually the case. The only thing better about calling or app is dependent on when and how you want to pay.

>You have an "account" regardless. I think this might differ if you're in the U.S or out, here in Europe often it is like this: In the app/website you have an "account" that you get by entering data into form fields which takes a while, and which then gets stored into a database and is saved forever unless you go through some extra steps to make sure it doesn't which will be complicated by how well the app / website…

In the US a few places I order from when you call they associate your phone number with an "account" on their POS system, which comes up automatically when you call. It gets created automatically the first time you call/order. It stores your name, address (if you get delivery), order history, and credit card number (if you pay by card).

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#427

Post by astura »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #225
Someone1234 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You and the person you're responding to are saying the same thing. If you call you won't have a coupon, and they aren't going to tell you about any, therefore you're paying more. How do you find coupons? Check online, but now you're already there so why not just order it there? A lot of coupons work either online or over the phone, but they're only advertised online and therefore that advantaged is largely to avoid m…

>If you call you won't have a coupon, and they aren't going to tell you about any They will, I worked at both Pizza Hut and Dominos twenty years ago and if you asked for the specials we'd basically tell you the coupons. I think our script even said "would you like to hear the specials today?"

That's just a generic special, that's not a coupon. A coupon is exactly what it sounds like - it literally requires a coupon to redeem, either a physical coupons or a digital "coupon."

When I worked at a restaurant we had both - specials that everyone got and coupons deals that you needed a piece of paper for. They were similar as it was just typing a code into the register, the big difference is typing in the coupon code without a piece of paper was considered stealing and anyone who did that was fired on the spot. You also couldn't redeem multiple coupons at once where you could get any number of open specials you wanted. We always directed customers towards specials.

The coupons were a significantly better deal than the general specials available to anyone. The coupons were mailed to every house in a ~20 mile radius once a month.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#428

Post by j_4 »

tedmiston wrote: post #416
ajuc wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my country there's a website that works in every major city and their suburbs that aggregates basically all restaurants, pizzerias, pierogarnias etc. And you don't have to have an account, the address and payment details are filled in by the browser autocomplete. So the friction is - click on the menu, click "order", type in the wireless transfer code. Also - almost nobody orders "pick up" pizza here, so phone req…

> So the friction is - click on the menu, click "order", type in the wireless transfer code. What is this wireless transfer code? Like some sort of payment system?

Yep - https://blik.com/en

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#429

Post by rprospero »

ineedasername wrote: post #408
rprospero wrote: post #386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m forty, been eating pizza my whole life, and I think I’ve only seen people order the preset pizza half the time. When I’m at a decent pizza place, it’s spinach, Stilton, bacon, and red potato. Possibly with broccoli or a vodka base, if I’m in the mood. At a more generic chain place, it’s pepperoni, feta, and pineapple. Never seen those on the menu at any pizzeria.

>decent pizza place, it’s spinach, Stilton, bacon, and red potato. Possibly with broccoli or a vodka base, if I’m in the mood. This sounds like the type of pizza common on the west coast, maybe California in particular? Possibly other parts of the world, but I'm less familiar with regional pizza varieties outside the US. In a traditional Italian pizzeria on the east coast those are simply not part of the regional var…

I actually picked up the spinach, Stilton, and potato habit in the American Midwest, but I can completely see how it would come off as Californian.

Also, if you’re ever in the French Alps, I highly recommend getting the raviolis on you pizza. Never seen that offered anywhere else.

Re: Phone is still the best way to order pizza

#430

Post by cromka »

Nextgrid wrote: post #379
hilbert42 wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"...once you do that too often in a short period of time, the bot assumes you’re scamming them and there’s no way to escalate that." The only way that'll be fixed will be with legislation. It's not only Uber, it's Google et al - they all into it. Simply, they need to be halled kicking and screaming to plow some of their enormous profits back into customer servive. Trouble is consumer protection law is decades behind…

> Trouble is consumer protection law is decades behind where it ought to be. Potentially, but on the other hand, card disputes are a thing and I'm baffled as to how little people know about them or have misunderstandings such as them only being available for credit cards (the law may give you extra protections there, but the standard Visa/Mastercard dispute rules apply equally regardless of whether it's debit or cred…

If you successfully request a chargeback, they will almost certainly ban you from using their services forever. It’s usually in their T&Cs.
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