What’s a restaurant or cafe these days without an app? From Starbucks to Panera to Chipotle and more, all of these businesses in the food industry have an app for their customers. These apps appeal to the consumer preference for digitalization, and they are essentially all one in the same with some fundamental features: digital ordering, rewards, menu, and locations. Smoothie King has followed this trend in the food industry as well and has its own app called the “Healthy Rewards App.”

Over the past few years, the app has evolved from merely a rewards program to incorporating digital pay and mobile ordering. Traditionally, the app was very simple where we would scan the customer’s QR code, and they would receive loyalty points. Each penny spent earned customers one loyalty point, and for every 1,000 points, the customers would receive a $1 off coupon.

A little while back, the Healthy Rewards App was revamped and was launched with a totally new software platform. This new model built upon the digital rewards program and incorporated digital pay. Just like other digital payment apps, customers can link their credit/debit card to their account to load money into the app. With this feature, customers can pay and earn rewards with one scan of the QR code in their app. If for some reason customers do not want to pay with the balance on their account, there is still the option to scan for loyalty points only.

While I’ve been away at school, the app has launched another feature: digital ordering. This is a drastic improvement because typically customers have to place their order in person, and they take the chance of having to wait in line. Before this feature was added, the only way for customers to place their order ahead of time was by calling the store. Not only was that method rather old-school, it was rather inefficient as well. We would have to stop what we were working on to put the order into the register, and then the order would remain as unclosed until the customer arrived. I’m assuming that the digital ordering feature will help to spread out the flow of orders and thin out the congested times when many customers arrive at once. I am also expecting that it expedites the process for ordering ahead and does so seamlessly. Once I get back to working, I’ll be excited to see how we manage the flow of digital orders with in-person orders. 

The Healthy Rewards app has also been great for marketing purposes. The app allows the franchise to stay connected with its customers through notifications and in-app promotions. For instance, with the current situation, Smoothie King has sent out different coupons in effort to still maintain some flow of business through the drive-thru despite the constraints. 

If you live near a Smoothie King or live near one in the future, be sure to download the app! You’ll earn rewards and also get the digital convenience that the app has developed!