The modern 2-way speaker drive-thru operation is said to have been invented by In-N-Out Burger in the late 1940s, later refined and spread across the country in the 60s and 70s by fast food giants like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Jack In The Box. Thanks to technology and changing customer demands, drive-thrus have steadily become…
2023 was another year of growth at CardFree thanks to our amazing restaurant, hospitality, and retail partners along with our awesome team for making everything happen. As the world of restaurant tech continues to evolve, we’ve seen greater adoption of online ordering and payments from both operators and their customers, as you can see…
Introducing CardFree Loyalty 2.0 We built the initial CardFree Loyalty platform in 2013 with basic functionality, as our primary focus was creating the best Ordering and Payment platforms possible. A few years ago, we started hearing complaints from our restaurant partners about legacy loyalty platforms in regard to lack of support, high costs, poor UX, and…
At this point, if you run a multi-unit restaurant or hotel operation, providing your guests with an online ordering channel is table stakes. Your questions shouldn’t revolve around if your brand should implement omni-channel online ordering – instead, you should be asking which platform works best for your operation, how you can implement it efficiently,…
In the saturated restaurant market, it can be challenging to stand out from the crowd, differentiate your brand, and generate meaningful engagement from your customers. At the same time, however, there are more marketing tools and resources available than ever before, and with a bit of research and experimentation, you can use the latest digital…
When our team built the original Starbucks, Dunkin’, Taco Bell, and Sonic apps 10+ years ago, native mobile apps offered many technical advantages over mobile web. Apps were also still relatively novel, and consumers’ appetite for downloading apps seemed insatiable. Neither of those things is true anymore, yet many vendors are still pushing apps as…
It’s that time of year again – Summer is winding down and that autumn chill in the air is creeping in. Shorts and t-shirts are going back in the closet and out come the jeans and flannel. That’s right, we’re officially entering pumpkin spice szn. While it might seem like the pumpkin spice aesthetic…
Although the world of hospitality is constantly evolving and adapting, the guest experience will always be the heartbeat of any hotel operation. As hoteliers continually seek innovative ways to improve their businesses, hotel mobile ordering systems have gained traction over the last several years, revolutionizing the way guests interact with hotel brands. While mobile ordering…
By now we’re sure you’ve heard about the new kid on the social media block, Meta’s Threads, AKA “the Twitter killer.” By the time you read this post, Threads’ user count is likely upwards of 110 million, making it the fastest growing consumer app of all time. And those users aren’t just signing up and…
Loyalty Program ≠ Loyalty: Rewriting the Narrative It’s time to set the record straight. Simply developing and offering a restaurant loyalty program does not magically create loyal customers. However, that doesn’t mean loyalty programs are ineffective. Loyalty programs are meant to reward loyalty, not create it, which is why they’re also known as rewards programs.…