Hungry Jack’s whopper appetite for WiFi

Fran Foo
The Australian
March 27, 2012

Hungry Jack’s hopes to allow customers in queues to place their order through their smartphones, then scan the device to collect their meals.

The company’s free in-store WiFi service, launched in January, has paved the way for more services to be introduced, said Hungry Jack’s national IT manager Joey Butler.

The rate its customers are devouring WiFi could soon rival their appetite for burgers — on average, 4600 customers use the service daily and this could double in months. “We’re looking at the possibility of bringing new initiatives and new functionality to the customer,” Mr Butler says.

“(For example) you can do your order while in line on the WiFi so when you get to the counter, you just swipe or scan your order and get it given to you.

“Our aim is to decrease waiting times for customers.”

Nationally, 285 stores offer the connectivity. The firm hopes to roll it out to its 348 Hungry Jack’s stores and franchise sites in the coming weeks.

The WiFi infrastructure was developed as part of a $6 million networking and telecommunications contract with Primus Australia. The wireless service uses technologies by Aruba Networks, Check Point Software, Emerging Systems and others.
A key benefit of the WiFi system was the ability to analyse customer usage patterns. This allows more targeted marketing campaigns. For example, Hungry Jack’s can tell the type of device manufacturer customers were using to access its free WiFi service.

“By far the iPhone is the most popular device. There is a very big difference between No 1 and 2,” Mr Butler said.
It also tracks individual categories as opposed to each website visited by customers.

The recent success of its Scoopon deal was an example of Hungry Jack’s using new forms of marketing to take advantage of internet-savvy customers.

Two weeks ago, Hungry Jack’s first used Scoopon to push a $2 Whopper and fries meal deal.

Within 48 hours of marketing the offer to its two million national subscribers, Scoopon sold 675,000 coupons worth $1.35 million.

Rival McDonald’s Australia declined to provide any statistics on its free WiFi service, which was launched in 2008 and covers all 800 restaurants.