Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
The Cleveland Browns of the National Football League are expanding their grab-and-go technology to food-and-beverage concessions throughout Huntington Bank Field, the team’s home stadium.
The new service, called Express Access, will be available at 12 locations within the stadium, enabling consumers to place orders across the entire facility. Since 2023, the Browns have been using similar technology for their “Express Beer” concessions at six locations within the stadium.
The Browns are partnering with Aramark Sports + Entertainment Services LLC, a provider of food, beverage, retail, and facility services for stadiums and entertainment venues, and Wicket LLC, a provider of facial recognition technology. Aramark uses data to improve ordering and payment for stadium concessions. Other partners include Tapin2, a provider of mobile ordering technology, and Mashgin Inc., provider of artificial intelligence-based checkout technology. Tapin2 previously partnered with the Browns for Beer Express.
Express Access will use facial-recognition technology to verify that consumers purchasing alcohol with a valid, government-issued identification are 21 years of age or older.
Fan response to the new technology so far has been strong. During the Browns’ home opener Sept. 8, 11% of all transactions at Express Access locations were processed through the new system. In addition, 24% of transactions were processed through the system at the two Pilot Fast Favorites locations prior to kickoff.
Fans are also showing a willingness to use the technology on a repeat basis, with 30% of customers who used the technology during the home opener using it to make repeat purchases during the game. The Browns have deployed beverage kiosks at Express Access entrance gates to enable fans to complete their first order upon arrival at the stadium.
In other hospitality related-news, ParTech Inc., a provider of point-of-sale software to restaurants, introduced its next-generation platform, which enables consumers to pay at table using QR code technology from CheckPlease LLC. The new feature helps speed table turnover by 16%, ParTech says.
Restaurants will also be able to integrate kiosks, menu boards, and other external systems within the restaurant into the platform. In addition, the new platform allows restaurants to organize and categorize information with custom labels, identifiers, and brand-specific terms, which ParTech says makes data easier to find, analyze, and export to third-party platforms.
Another new feature, Rapid Promo Entry, allows restaurants to automatically apply promotion items to orders using a promotional code. In addition, the On the Fly, One Behind Ordering feature holds items back from the kitchen display system until the next order is started, preventing early preparation, reducing errors, and cutting down on food waste, Partech says.
ParTech’s new platform also includes multi-lane drive-thru enhancements, which allow a default register to be assigned to an order-confirmation board. This improves visibility and accuracy for orders placed through drive-through lanes, ParTech says.
