Mobile Menus Now Live

Consider your life just that much easier: The mobile-friendly version of Snapfinger.com just went live. You can now order from your favorite restaurant from everywhere you can carry your phone.

Basically, if you've got a browser-enabled phone, visiting now would be the easy way for you to check out just what this new development means. But for the rest, allow me to tantalize...

All the service's great features, including search by zip code, group order, text reordering, and online payment are available. You're simply seeing them on a smaller screen that you hold in your hand, and scrolling and selecting with the keys on your phone (or by touch, if you're so lucky).

In short, users can expect the same satisfying experience on their cell that they previously got on their computer. Now you can order from the car, from the kids' practice, from...well, you get the idea.

And a special note to iPhone users: You may want to check this blog and the Snapfinger site later this week.

What "Point-of-Sale Integration" Means to You

If you've used Snapfinger or follow us via any of the social media outlets, you've probably seen the phrase "point-of-sale (POS) integration" tossed around.

And when you saw it, your eyes probably glazed over, as you didn't think it pertained at all to the consumer. Don't feel bad; we do mainly use it when marketing our software to chains.

But that doesn't mean it's all technobabble for programmers and owners to worry with. It's the key to making the experience as easy as snapping your...well, you know.

To put it simply, POS integration makes your web browser an extension of the restaurant's computer system. Your clicks are translated into the "language" of whatever location you're getting your food from, be it Aloha, POSitouch, or Micros.

The menu you see is synched with what's available at the particular location you have selected, so you'll be able to see today's specials but won't accidentally order something that the kitchen is out of. The connection also means that prices and taxes on your screen reflect just exactly what you'd pay if you walked in.

In short, when you are perusing the full-color branded menus and making your special requests, you're doing what a waiter or waitress does when they're inputting a meal on their touch screen. And your order pops up on the screens in the kitchen just as though an employee had entered it.

It's the very definition of "streamlining" the process, and it greatly reduces the chance for human, phone or fax error. Unlike all other remote order services, which require a second submission of orders by someone other than yourself, Snapfinger gets your desires on the cook's queue with perfect timing for your customized pickup.

You do the waitstaff's job, though it takes no time and you suffer through none of the training.

Feel free to tip yourself.