Fast-casual restaurant chain Noodles & Co., announced today that it will let customers in its Boulder venues pay for meals with their cell phones.
The Broomfield-based Noodles is using technology developed by FEED Tribes, a Boulder company that has built a proprietary text messaging-based payment system that works on just about any mobile phone. In addition to using their phones to pay bills, consumers can choose to receive messages from their favorite restaurants and retailers in a few formats, such as text messages, e-mail and personalized Web pages.
For merchants, accepting mobile-phone payments is much cheaper than credit card transactions, which incur processing fees, FEED Tribe officials said. They also note that credit card purchases don’t allow merchants to interact as extensively with their customers.
“When people pay with credit cards, there’s no way to establish a dialogue,” said Noodles & Co. Director of Marketing and Communications Chad Gretzema in a statement. “FEED Tribe offers us the opportunity to communicate with our guests based on how they want to engage in our brand.”
“Everyone has a mobile phone, and it is becoming the dominant communication medium for voice, text and ever-improving video,” Feed Tribes’ chief executive officer, Rod Stambaugh, said in a statement. “When regular guests opt in, we can speak to them right when they are making their lunch or dinner decisions. We can reward free meals, communicate about events we are involved with in our neighborhood, or introduce new customers to our restaurants by loading their accounts with dollars that can only be used at Noodles & Company.
Noodles & Co. is evaluating the new payment system and considering expanding it to its restaurants nationwide.
