Smoothie King is testing a new text-to-order platform in Chicago and Jacksonville, Florida with the goal of offering a more modern experience while driving top-line digital sales for franchisees.
Through a partnership with HungerRush and its platform OrderAI, the brand is investing in technology to increase sales and profitability for its franchisees while making it easier for guests to order its smoothies.
"At Smoothie King, we are 100 percent dedicated to two things—providing our guests with more ways to enjoy our smoothies, and increasing sales and profitability for our franchise owners," said Chris Andrews, chief information officer of Smoothie King, in a statement. "The rollout of our text-to-order platform is just another way that our brand continues to innovate and stay one step ahead of our competition. We’re the first to market in the QSR space for this feature and look forward to launching it in markets across the country throughout the year."
Using a 4 to 5 digit code, Smoothie King consumers in Chicago and Jacksonville can place and pay for their order via SMS text message and visit the nearest location to pick up their smoothie.
Through the use of artificial intelligence, OrderAI learns and understands Smoothie King's menu and begins to track preferences and predict orders—ultimately increasing the likelihood that guests will order again. Once an order is placed via text message, it comes through like any other order at the store level, reducing the amount of time employees spend fielding phone orders and improving order accuracy by an estimated 99 percent, according to the company.
The text-to-order launch comes on the heels of big wins for the brand last year fueled by strong digital performance, including its healthy rewards app, online ordering for pickup and delivery, multiple third-party delivery partners, and the introduction of tablet devices for drive-thru locations.
According to the company, in 2021 the brand experienced a 16.5 percent sales increase year-over-year domestically and a record $834,562 average unit volume for the top 25 percent of franchised units in operation.
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