
Smart food lockers for digital order pickup are becoming more and more prominent in leading brands’ designs for their “restaurants of the future,” because they minimize labor for order handoff, while providing fast, contactless pickup for busy customers, says Apex Order Pickup Solutions, a company that creates self-serve automated pickup solutions for use in foodservice, retail, and b-to-b eCommerce.
The company has announced the introduction of a new software platform, ApexIQ. When paired with their OrderHQ pickup locker series, ApexIQ gives restaurant and foodservice operators data insights to improve the efficiency of order handoff.
“With ApexIQ, restaurant and foodservice operators can track their order create-to-load and order dwell times for every order across every store giving them the data to continuously improve – resulting in efficient processes, minimal order dwell times, happy customers, and increased profits.” said Apex Order Pickup Solutions Chief Executive Officer Mike Wills. “Without this data, operators have a ‘blind spot’ – they can’t manage, improve and delight customers in their growing off-premises business.”
This software integrates Apex lockers with existing point of sale and other back-of-house management systems to make it easier for restaurants to offer quick and convenient online ordering and pickup, creating a seamless experience for employees as well as customers.
Apex has built native integrations with many foodservice industry technology leaders including Compass Boost, Fresh Technology, Grubhub, Hangry, Koala, NCR, NovaDine, Servy, Vista, YinzCam, and more. Earlier this year, global foodservice equipment manufacturer Welbilt, Inc. announced a licensing agreement with Apex to manufacture and market the lockers under its Merco brand.
“These partnerships illustrate our commitment to providing an integrated, efficient solution to order pickup,” Wills said. “The demand for takeout foodservice continues to grow, even as we approach the end of the pandemic, and we’re prepared to meet the needs of the industry.”