NFL American football team the Detroit Lions has introduced a new food and beverage ordering option to its official mobile app.
The feature will be available for fans in the new Grid Iron Club area at Ford Field, the Lions’ home stadium.
The new service has been developed by US software and mobile app company YinzCam. The feature was soft launched for the Lions’ final two games of the 2017 season.
The Grid Iron Club seats 3,000 fans and is located in the north end of Ford Field. Supporters located in this area were given exclusive access to order from mobile menus for the four Detroit-themed restaurants that were added at Ford Field last year. They are: El Asador, Slows Bar-B-Q, Flowers of Vietnam and Bigalora Cucina.
Fans are able to select and purchase their food through the app before receiving a notification to pick up their order within 10 minutes on the second level of the club.
The iOS version of the app incorporates Apple’s Indoor Positioning feature, which shows fans exactly where they are in the stadium in relation to the restaurant locations.
Todd Marcy, the Lions’ director of digital operations, said: “We hadn’t had Wi-Fi in the stadium prior to this past year, so entering the 2017 season, we focused on making our mobile app more than just an extension of our website and the great content that fans enjoy there.
“We want our app to become a valuable tool that fans can interact with at games, and mobile ordering is another next step in that evolution, as we look to stay ahead of the curve.”
The Lions are set to continue testing and perfecting their mobile offering during select concerts and events in the coming months. It is hoped that the new feature will eventually be made available across other seating locations within Ford Field, including the south side of the stadium, where eight more restaurants are located. Mobile ticketing and a mobile loyalty programme are also being considered for inclusion on the app.
Priya Narasimhan, chief executive and founder of YinzCam, added: “We were excited to have the opportunity to work with the Lions to launch our own in-house mobile food-and-beverage ordering product, which was built to integrate seamlessly with the rest of our capabilities, such as Single Sign-On, push notifications, indoor wayfinding and more.
“Like us, the Lions are always exploring new ways to utilise their mobile app and to enhance the game-day experience, so we enjoyed collaborating with them once again to deliver this new feature for Detroit fans.”
YinzCam has built 24 NFL club apps, as well as more than 130 apps for teams, leagues, venues and events, including Super Bowl XLIX.
Image: Ian121289S
