MEDIA RELEASE
25 November 2008
Fresh SUBWAY® restaurant sandwiches at your fingertips
SUBWAY® restaurant customers are letting their fingers do the ordering thanks to award-winning technology.
SUBWAY Express allows people to order SUBWAY online or by texting their order to a SUBWAY® store. Once an order is
received, it’s ready to be picked up within seven minutes.
The text component of SUBWAY Express, developed by New Zealand mobile technology company Altaine, won best mobile
application at this year’s TUANZ Innovation Awards, beating Kiwibank and TracMap NZ. Altaine head, Warren Tobin, said
SUBWAY Express is a proving to be a popular method of ordering from the restaurant chain.
“Consumers who are time-poor, or those who do not want to wait in line, are embracing SUBWAY Express. For consumers,
there is a very clear benefit – we eliminate the need to wait in line,” he said.
The implementation of SUBWAY Express is a first for the SUBWAY® chain worldwide and a world-first among quick service
restaurants (QSR). SUBWAY® Development Agent for New Zealand, Mark Rutherglen, said Kiwis have taken to the technology.
“What is perhaps most exciting, is the positive customer feedback that we now receive everyday. SUBWAY® customers love
it.”
Interest in SUBWAY Express is high among SUBWAY® restaurants internationally with SUBWAY® UK running a small pilot
programme and interest from Asia and North America. SUBWAY® has reported the number of text orders have increased each
month, with 250% annual growth since the service was launched in 2006.
Tobin predicts companies will turn more to mobiles as a way to market their products to customers. “Mobile phones live
in consumers’ pockets and purses so it makes sense companies are looking to connect via this channel,” Tobin said.
“Mobiles are already entertainment devices, computers and multi-channel communication consoles. Within a short timeframe
brands may deliver their own mobile TV channel to customers.”
ENDS