For some students, the 50 minute lunch period is used as a study hall or a time to sit down, relax and enjoy a meal. Either way, for students who go off campus, a long line at a fast-food restaurant could keep them waiting for 10 minutes or more, wasting time that could potentially be put to better use. Waiting in line for such long periods of time may result in students rushing to eat and driving fast to be on time for class, presenting a possible safety hazard. To combat this potential danger, fast-food restaurants have come up with a system to speed up their service.

Chick-fil-A, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Starbucks, Chipotle and Subway have all released applications, or apps, that allow customers to order their food ahead of time for pick-up.

These apps make it fast and convenient for a customer to go in and out of restaurants without having to wait in line. Students, for example, could order food on their phones before they leave campus and the restaurant will have their meal ready when they get there, leaving extra time to eat, study or do homework.

However, there are some disadvantages with implementing this system. If too many orders are placed at once and the restaurant cannot keep up with the demand, wait times will increase and the entire purpose of ordering ahead would become pointless. Despite this, some chains are preventing this from happening by creating separate lines in-store for online orders.

There are numerous advantages that come with using order-ahead apps. Many of them include loyalty programs that reward customers with a free drink or sandwich after they order from the app a certain amount of times. For example, McDonald’s gives a free sandwich to first time users of their app, while Starbucks uses a point system that allows customers to accumulate “stars” over time that result in a free drink. Not only do these apps benefit the consumer, but the company is also benefitted by boosting sales and increasing overall revenue.

Restaurants are embracing technology with this new method of ordering that was never used in the past. Over a decade ago, ordering food from a website was unheard of. Before that, ordering pizza from the telephone was a relatively new concept as well. These technological advancements have made it more convenient for customers all over the country to order their food quickly on-the-go.