LogFAQs > #914653183

dragon504 posted...

Data collection most likely.

That and advertising. Seeing the icon for that establishment every time you open your phone makes it more likely you'll think of them when you're considering ordering food.

LinkPizza posted...

That would make sense. I could see that. But then why not have all options?

With any UI, there's a tradeoff between usability and versatility. Put too many options on there, and it takes people too long to find/reach what they want and they stop using it. Put too few, and it fails to meet the needs of many customers, so they stop using it. Presumably, they considered that balance in deciding just how much to put on. There is also the issue of regional variation in what's available (which may or may not be relevant to your experience), which is harder to code into what tends to be a pretty barebones app.

LinkPizza posted...

Couldnt they still get that from sales at the store. Like most food places I worked, or know of, seem to use computer touch screen for ordering. It could easily send the daily sales to someone.

The apps offer them more than just sales data. Detecting your location when you place the order, for example, can be valuable for determining where to open a new location. Internet search histories can be used for advertising purposes (both to personally target ads and to collect demographic data for broader ad campaigns). If the app has a search function, people searching for discontinued or not-yet-offered items can be a way of gauging demand for them that you won't otherwise get without actually talking to front-line workers (and no executive wants to do that). In the absence of a search function, you can still get data on demand for discontinued items by seeing if there's an uptick in people opening the app but not placing an order after discontinuing them (presumably, because they were looking for the discontinued item and gave up on going there when they couldn't find it).

Even without immediate, obvious uses for the data, though, the whole philosophy behind the Big Data craze is "collect it now, figure out how to use it later." Corporations are willing to invest quite heavily in data collection for the chance they could find something lucrative, and that investment often pays off. In this case, the apps are pretty easy to develop and also offer enticing convenience for customers, so the investment isn't much of a gamble (plus their competitors are probably also offering that convenience and they don't want to get left behind).