Food in stadium : Kicking off in-seat delivery

As stadiums grow in size, the organization of catering services becomes more complex, often causing endless queues for your customers and stressful periods for your staff.

These waiting times and uncertain conditions often lead to frustrated stadium-goers, who end up abandoning their food order and return to their seat. This results in a loss for food businesses like yours. 

So, how can you improve your food service? What tools should you use? Can you deliver food to your customers’ seats?

We’ve put together a guide that can help you.

How has on-site delivery evolved?

In-seat delivery in stadiums is not something new, it has been in place for almost a decade. 

Who’d have thought that a catering delivery organization for tens of thousands of people was possible? Thanks to the digitalization of the sector, many developments have emerged that have many advantages. 

The benefits of in seat delivery in stadiums: 

• Streamline customer experience

• Avoid long queues

• Allow payments within the app

• Encourage customer to spend more  

• Enable the purchase of souvenirs/merchandise

• Increase promotional opportunies

What are the advantages of contactless payment? 

An additional benefit to consider is the implementation of contactless payments when taking in-seat delivery orders. Bringing the order directly to the customer's seat will allow you to fill in their preferences for food and drinks. Customers are able to relax and wait in their seats until their order is ready and delivered to them, giving you and your team more time and space to organise your orders and deliveries. 

By accepting all types of payments, your staff wil save precious time and hassle when doing their job. Accept card, cash or contactless for smooth and efficient service.

Why offer in-seat delivery in your stadium?

In-seat delivery in stadiums is the most efficient system to serve a maximum of customers while staying organised and productive. To implement this strategy, modern points of sale have been converted to a digital format allowing customers to order directly from their phone or from order kiosks. 

The three main changes you will benefit from:

1. A better customer experience

Digitize your stadium catering and offer customers a stress-free experience when they visit. Put an end to endless queues and take the pressure off your sales stands. Booths may still be available, but the majority of customers will take advantage of the “in-seat delivery” feature so they don't miss a moment of their event. 

Ultimately, offer the customer a seamless experience.

2. A higher average customer basket 

Increase the average shopping cart of your customers by highlighting your promotional offers: this is also an opportunity to highlight your sponsors within the ordering app.

Having the possibility to digitize your catering system allows you to go further than the catering sector itself, with merchandise for instance.

More than the average basket, in-seat delivery will allow you to improve your inventory management, and adjust your orders according to the sales you have seen on the reports of your POS.

4. Quick payments within the application

As well as offering flexible payments via your card reader, payments within the ordering app itself speed up checkout and make things easier for your customers and staff. 

With just a few clicks, your customer can pay for their order directly from their phone and save time for your employees who are delivering the in-seat orders.

How to set up in-seat delivery thanks to your POS?

To make your internal organization as operational as possible, opting for a modern POS software is the most intuitive solution.

With SumUp Point of Sale Pro, your software solution can be scaled up to support stadiums, venues, festivals and multi-chain businesses with dedicated features that streamline your services.

• Lightning-fast checkout 

• Flexible orders

• Slick hardware

• Real-time data and reports

• Multi-user access

Kit out your business with slick hardware and intuitive software that’s easy to use, meaning your team can be trained in minutes and given their own login thanks to multi-user access.

Once you’re ready to go, you can speed up checkout and reduce queues with simplified orders and payments. Reduce wastage and keep track of your stock with real-time data and reports too, so your business can stay on top of its game.