Mobile in-seat ordering at sports events began to gain traction in the industry in 2010, but the offering was undoubtedly ahead of its time. Connectivity and fulfillment were erratic and rates of use by fans were low, remaining below 5 percent of total concessions volume in many markets for several years.
Fast forward to 2017, and the mobile, on-demand economy has finally caught up to what several concessionaires and technology companies first envisioned at the beginning of the decade. Hundreds of pro and college teams now offer some sort of mobile-based food and souvenir ordering, enabled by an array of platforms. And operators are focused on driving further user adoption and optimizing back-of-house operations to prepare for further shifts in fan buying patterns.
“Back in 2010, we were definitely early, and we were wondering if people even want this and was it a solution in search of a problem,” said Brandon Lloyd, president of Bypass, an Austin-based provider of point-of-sale software that was an early entrant in mobile in-seat ordering.
“The model of using your phone to order concessions at a game, like you would a cup of coffee or an Uber, is now proven. But it’s now taking on a lot of different flavors. Some teams are just focused on mobile payments. Some do full delivery. Others have express lanes, kiosks or a combination of those elements. The thing we’re focused on now is building up the ubiquity and frequency of mobile ordering,” Lloyd said.
Despite all that availability, though, concessionaires say the actual execution of mobile in-seat ordering remains hit and miss around much of the industry.
Mobile “is the future, but I think what it’s going to take at some point in time … and the reason why it’s
successful in the travel and airline industry, is they more or less have forced people to travel that way, and we have not done that in our industry,” said Carlos Bernal, Sportservice president. “We still provide a lot of different options for people to transact with cash or however they want to do business with us.”
Also complicating the adoption of mobile in-seat ordering is the need in many markets to download multiple applications, something many fans don’t want to do.
“We’ve been looking to white-label our technology into the team or venue apps and try to make it seamless as possible for the fan,” said Carl Mittleman, president of Aramark Sports & Entertainment. “Because any time you create a barrier, like asking somebody to download another app, you’re diminishing your take-up on this.”
Technology allowing fans to stay in their seats and have food, beverage and souvenirs brought to them also runs somewhat counter to accelerating fan trends toward migrating around stadiums and arenas during events.
“There is still a behavior pattern of our consumer that involves getting up and moving around,” Mittleman said. “Fans want to stretch their legs, sample various areas around a ballpark.”
But Lloyd and others around the industry who are bullish on the future of mobile in-seat ordering point to the mushrooming success of elements such as Starbucks’ Mobile Order and Pay outside of sports venues. The coffee giant says in about 1,200 of its stores around the country, mobile ordering represents more than 20 percent of transactions at peak times. Other major restaurant chains such as McDonald’s are also investing heavily in mobile ordering, which is in turn influencing the rise of the technology at sports venues.
“There’s a real comfort level now we’re seeing in fans being able to customize their order and do it themselves,” on their device, said Max Roper, chief executive for California-based point-of-sale vendor Appetize. “You can pretty much order anything from your phone now, so that really helps our environment.”
Roper, however, agreed that the mobile in-seat ordering, for all its recent advancement, still frequently suffers from a lack of marketing.
“The venue networks have improved greatly, and stock and fulfillment is not as much of an issue now. But a lot of these services still do not have the best level of awareness,” he said.
Added Legends President of Hospitality Dan Smith: “The next 12 months there will be a concerted effort for concessionaires to push the technology. Labor costs are rising, and we want to get more efficient in our operations and promote a better fan experience.”
Data from mobile in-seat ordering frequently shows an uptick in average per caps compared with that particular facility overall. Appetize, for example, says its mobile-based orders are typically 10 percent to 20 percent higher than those made normally at concession stands, and 80 percent of the orders include alcohol, which has one of the highest profit margins at any sports facility.
Staff writer Don Muret contributed to this report.
