When I order a sandwich, I usually have a lot of special requests. Things like, “No cheese. No mayo. Instead of bread, can you use slabs of gold?” And when someone gets it wrong (“I didn’t ask for bronze, you idiot!”) I start punching bystanders.
Thankfully, places like Wawa (think 7-11, but way cooler) get it right. At Wawa, there’s a simple, relatively well-designed and responsive touchscreen ordering system that allows you to specify exactly how you want your sandwich. It prints out a dead-simple list for the sandwich artist and almost entirely removes the possibility for human error. When you’re giving verbal instructions, you can be pretty much guaranteed they’ll put pickles on when you ask for them to be left off. But with the touchscreen ordering, not only do you not have to interact with a human, you can be assured of getting a sandwich the way you ordered it.
Bravo, Wawa for having great sandwiches, a good ordering system, and a fun-to-say name!
Posted in Consumer Commentary, Food and Beverage
Dave Walls September 19, 2008, 5:55 am
Wawa and Sheetz both have excellent touch screen ordering systems. Not to start a “Who has the better hoagie?” war, but I will point out one feature that I prefer on the Sheetz screen that Wawa doesn’t have (or, at least, the one across the street from me doesn’t have).
The “Special Request” button.
Worse case scenario: If you have a request that can’t be answered on the Sheetz screen, hit the “Special Request” button, and someone will actually come over and talk to you about how you like the crust cut off your Egg Salad Sandwich. Ever try and get a hold of one of the people at Wawa on a busy Monday morning? Impossible.
Wawa does seem to have the edge with online ordering in some areas, thanks to their partnership with GoMoBo. That’s still a work in progress, though.