Food for thought: 2023 in to 2024

2023 has certainly been a year of growth and development at App4. Here we look back at some of our highlights.

In the early spring we expanded our range of in-store ordering solutions to include self-service kiosks.

Our customers have reaped the benefits of these technologies with some kiosk users increasing their order values by as much as 30% compared to orders made over the counter, adding an additional £5 to every transaction.

Our mission continues to be to introduce new technology solutions that help our clients’ businesses to become more efficient and increase their profits and we are very proud to say that, to date, we have helped them to save over £60 million in online ordering commissions.

We couldn’t achieve this without the dedication of our team, which we expanded by 20% in 2023 to ensure that we can continue to give our customers the absolute best in dedicated customer service. We are very proud to continue to hold an ‘Excellent’ Trustpilot rating based on customer feedback.

In the Autumn we attended the fantastic Restaurant & Takeaway Innovation Expo in London, where we enjoyed meeting so many existing customers and new contacts. More locally, at home, we were honoured to sponsor the Marketing Derby Food & Drink Awards.

Finally, we rounded off the year with our CEO Ian Chambers being shortlisted as a finalist for two entrepreneur of the year awards!

Looking ahead…

2024 is just around the corner and we have further expansion plans for our team which will support the growth of our international business as we begin to work with clients across Europe, America, and Australia, through securing integrations with some of the industry’s leading tech companies in their fields.

In terms of the wider industry, we expect to continue to see an evolving landscape which will present exciting opportunities and challenges for businesses and consumers alike.

Self-service will continue to become more prevalent as businesses seek to further reduce staff costs and increase average order values, and third-party delivery looks set to become more popular, where drivers can be employed on an as-need basis according to demand.

It is predicted that there will be a surge in growth of virtual restaurants and cloud kitchens – establishments designed exclusively for online orders, with AI set to play a bigger role in enhancing the consumer experience by analysing user behaviour and order history to drive menu management and marketing, even as far as using AI to make highly personalised menu recommendations based on taste profile!

From App4 you can expect to see new marketing partnerships to help businesses ditch expensive ordering platforms and new integration partners making adopting App4 even easier for our customers.

Whatever the trends App4 will continue to embrace innovation, providing the solutions our customers need to thrive in a changing landscape.