Are you hungry, but don’t want to leave your Facebook app? Facebook has found a solution specifically tailored to you. Since October 13, Facebook app users have been able to order takeout or delivery directly from the mobile app and website.
Instead of striking out on its own, like Facebook did for marketplace, the company is partnering with national brands, such as Papa John’s, Panera, TGI Friday’s, Denny’s, El Pollo Loco, Wingstop, Chipotle, Five Guys, and Jimmy John’s. If national brands aren’t your thing, you can order delivery from local restaurants through Facebook’s partnerships with ChowNow, Delivery.com, DoorDash, EatStreet, Slice, and Olo.
To start an order on Facebook or in the Facebook app, all a user has to do is search for the restaurant they want to order from. Users who haven’t made up their mind yet can browse nearby restaurants through the Order Food section found in the Explore menu.
The downside to all this is that, because Facebook partnered with so many companies and hasn’t streamlined the process all the way, a user needs to make a new account every time they discover a restaurant has their menu hosted on a website they do not have an account with yet. This makes a seemingly nice, but unnecessary convenience, a hassle for the user.
Let’s be honest, we all feel we have too many accounts and passwords to remember as it is. Had Facebook created its own in-app food ordering system that didn’t require a user to sign up with other companies, we all would be wondering what took them so long. However, in its current state Facebook’s food ordering system is clunkier than the system it’s trying to replace. Until Facebook figures out what it wants from its partnerships with food brands, it’s users will ignore the new feature and go back to ordering the old-fashioned way or simply stick to brands they are already loyal to and have accounts with.
