Fresh SUBWAYsandwiches at your fingertips

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

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