Faster food: the evolution of payments in the F&B sector

If the speed and convenience of the drive-through defined “fast food” in its early days, it’s the customer use of automated systems that’s having the biggest impact in the 21st century.

It’s no surprise. When people have the option of ordering food online and having it delivered to their front door within 20 minutes, fast food outlets need to be able to compete on speed. Automated ordering and payments systems offering shorter queues and faster service are a logical answer, and are now standard in fast food outlets across the UK.

However, that doesn’t mean customer-facing staff are obsolete. To find out just what proportion of the population still prefer to order and pay through a staff member, we asked 1108 adults, aged 16-75, in the UK between November 10-12, 2021 in an online survey with market researchers Ipsos, and their answers are clear.

“Elavon provides solutions that address exactly this - fully integrated payment systems that complement the ordering experience, which speeds up the process of submitting the initial order, to sending through to the kitchen and receiving your food in the quickest possible time.”

If you want to talk to us about how a modern payments system can benefit your business, talk to our team.

We commissioned this same survey in other countries too, which may interest you:

We asked these same questions to 1000 adults in Ireland and 1098 adults in Poland.

• The research was conducted on i:omnibus, Ipsos MORI’s online Omnibus.
• Online interviews were carried out amongst adults aged 16-75 in the UK.
• Our total respondents base includes 1,108 adults who completed the survey November 10-12, 2021
• The sample obtained is representative of this population, having met quotas on: age, gender, region and workings status.
• The data has been weighted to the known population profile by age within gender, region, education, working status and social grade to be nationally representative and reflect the adult population of the UK.