A friend of mine, Tyler, told me a couple of weeks ago he had the new Taco Bell app for his phone. I thought, "Well isn’t that nice? But he could use his actual phone to call it in." Of course, that was an old school thought. So I checked out the app for my Samsung S5.
I tried it out and ordered a Burrito from the list of categories. Then it got interesting. Since it was my first time it asked me to pick a location. The app gave me a local map; I moved it with my finger about 30 miles to where I would be for dinner and refreshed the map. It listed the two stores I knew about and I clicked the one I wanted to get my order from.
Next I added items to the order. I choose extra beef, sour cream (I could have chosen low fat but hey, this was an experiment) and nacho cheese sauce. The only bad part is that it gave me the calorie count for each item I added.
When I clicked complete it gave me the sub-total (without tax) I owed and offered to let me get a drink. Then it allowed me to enter my credit/debit card info, use a Taco Bell card (a new one or existing) or use Facebook to log in. I have no idea what the Facebook part did and stayed away from that one. I entered the card I wanted to pay with, got the entire total and hit the submit button.
It gave me a screen telling me that when I arrive at the store I can pick from the app if I want to walk in and get it or go through the drive-thru. Remember: Do not text and drive. The order will be "cooked" when you hit the button, so maybe you should do that part while at a light near the store or get your passenger to do it. I used the drive-thru and all was well.
You could even hit a link for a map with live directions on how to get to the store.
Pretty slick, so then I started to look around for more fast-food joint apps. Here are just a few familiar ones. They are in alphabetical order and I have not tested them all. Burger King, Chipotle, Domino’s, Five Guys, McDonald’s, Panera Bread, Papa John’s, Pizza Hut, Starbuck’s, and Wendy’s.
Some of them have recently rolled out to the public so they may not be perfect; however, if you are hungry and interested give them a spin.
There are also many coupon apps out there too. I have had, "Fast Food Coupons Pizza & More" recommended to me although I have not tried it out…yet. Type it in the Google Play store and see what else they have to offer.
Of course you will now need a calorie counter app. There are many, although I use "Calorie King" myself. There is no app for it but the site is CalorieKing.com. Trust me, after eating at all of these places you will need it.