Robots may eventually do much of the work behind the counter at fast food restaurants, but today they’re relegated to mostly handling orders. Subway restaurants announced Tuesday that it was launching a bot for Facebook Messenger to further revolutionize its digital efforts.
The bot was unveiled at the F8 Facebook Developer Conference and allows fans of the giant chain eatery to order a sandwich or salad, customize it with bread, cheese, vegetables, and sauce choices and pay on any device that supports Messenger. Users can then pick up their order from any of 26,500 Subway locations in the U.S. in 15 minutes or less.
The latest innovation from the brand — which already allows web and app ordering — was announced with digital partner Agilitee, and billed as a big deal in the restaurant industry.
“Our bot for Messenger was just deployed in more than 26,500 U.S. Subway restaurants — the largest deployment of a Messenger bot in the restaurant industry,” Carman Wenkoff, Subway’s chief information and digital officer, said in a news release. “We’re proud to offer our guests an innovative new way to order and pay outside the restaurants. This is a new initiative in the ongoing quest to enhance the guest experience.”
To use the bot, first, get hungry. Then launch the Messenger app, visit Messenger.com or visit Facebook.com/subway and tap “order now.” The bot will ask for the user’s location to find the closest restaurant before guiding them through the sandwich construction.
Subway, founded more than 50 years ago, calls its sandwich makers “artists,” and says they serve 7.5 million sandwiches a day around the world.
