by Marino Bresciani

We’ve already written on a previous occasion about TelePizza and its service enabling food ordering via text message. Always happy to see a good idea spread, I was recently pleased to note that the big sandwich chain Subway has enabled text ordering in New York City.

Users of Subway Now begin by entering their address online to find the Subway shop nearest them. They then create and save their favourite orders, each of which is assigned a number. To order by text message, they simply text the word “menu” to Subway’s shortcode, and the service sends back a list of their favourites. They reply with the number they want, and Subway Now responds with a text confirmation and pickup time.

It may sound kinda complicated, but it’s quite simple, and the popularity of this service is based on some strong points of this service:

• It takes only one, max two text messages for ordering
• All orders are paid via credit card information saved on the Subway Now site
• With no need to pay in cash and with a priority service, customers can skip the line entirely when they pick up their food
• The service itself is free (i mean, you pay only for the messages to the shortcode ).

The service is getting more popular with the day. As a result, I would expect to see Subway launching the service in other metro areas in the near future, possibly also in Europe.