Next generation of mobile phone payments?

If you have ever gone to a sporting event or a concert you’ve probably noticed how long the concession lines are, especially at a well attended event. Some people come prepared having eaten before and maybe get nothing more than a soda. Some people eat their meal at the venue. Still others make continuous trips back to the concession stands. This all takes time and it takes people away from the action, or what they were actually paying to see. Venues have been trying to make this easier on everyone but nothing has seemed to stick until now, maybe.

A number of teams and venues have attempted mobile ordering, that is you can order food from a concession stand and pay for it without leaving your seat and when it is ready you will be alerted. The customer either then comes up to a special line, picks up their food and returns to their seat in hopefully less time than it takes a pitcher to warm up between innings, a timeout in basketball or it is delivered to them. One humorous commercial promoting this service depicted two couples on a date where one was stuck in line and had his date taken by someone else whereas the other was able to return quickly while snagging a foul ball and handing it suavely to his date.

Mobile ordering never took off though as it requires the download of an app and of course an Internet connection. With many venues lacking wi-fi and users not wanting to download another app users just felt it was easier to go get in line. Some venues also did not want to pay dedicated delivery staff who could potentially just sit around doing nothing on a slow night. Disney though may have found the solution to fix this. A redevelopment of their mobile ordering has been completed and the feature is now a part of the standardized Disney theme park app. In park wi-fi means everyone with a device can have access to it.

The Philadelphia Phillies may have taken it a step further partnering with Apple Pay which will be used as the payment system for a new venture. No app download will be required. The fan will use their phone’s camera to scan a QR code found on the seat in front of them which will launch Apple Business Chat which will be used to place orders via the iMessage app on a phone. A spectator at Citizens Bank Park will send a chat message to the stand that they want and an automated script will handle the rest. In all it is a 5 step process to complete.

At the moment this is only an experiment being done in 4 sections of the park and it is limited to start to beverage selections (beer and water). If the pilot program is successful it will be expanded to not only the entire park but also a wider variety of food selections. If widely successful it will certainly be expanded to other venues. There are doubts as some believe the process involves too many apps but there really is no better way right now.

Considering it can take almost 3 innings to get a cheesesteak from Tony Luke’s during a well attended game this could be very popular. (OK, maybe not 3 innings but the line can get quite long) The Phillies have in stadium wi-fi so all of the ingredients are there for this to work, especially as the team has climbed back into contention which will bring an inevitable rise in popularity in 2019. It could make Citizens Bank Park the place to be.