Systems and methods for take-out order sharing

• US 10,089,701 B2
• Filed: 05/09/2012
• Issued: 10/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RRT Holdings, LLC
• Original Assignee: Restaurant Revolution Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Harman, Brett
• Primary Examiner(s): Ade, Oger Garcia
• Application Number:
  US13/467,967
• Publication Number:
  US 20120290414A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,337 Days
• Field of Search: 705 15, 3 15
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants

Abstract

Systems and methods for take-out order sharing. In an embodiment, a restaurant is identified, and an interactive menu associated with the restaurant is provided to a user through a user interface. An order may be received from the user through the user interface. Information related to the user can be shared with one or more contacts of the user on one or more social networking sites through at least one application interface.

Claims

1. A system for take-out order management and sharing, the system comprising:

at least one hardware processor;

at least one executable software module that, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, is configured to;

import menu data from a plurality of restaurant Point-of-Sale (POS) systems, associated with a plurality of restaurants, over at least one network, wherein the menu data comprises a plurality of menu items,

generate a plurality of interactive menus based on the imported menu data for each of the plurality of restaurants, wherein each of the plurality of interactive menus comprises one or more menu screens, and wherein the one or more menu screens comprise a subset of one or more of the plurality of menu items;

receive an identification of one of the plurality of restaurants;

provide an interactive menu associated with the restaurant to a device of a first user through a user interface;

receive a group order from the device of the first user through the user interface;

receive an indication from the first user to include a second user in the group order;

send an invitation to the second user to join the group order;

receive, from a device of the second user, a selection of at least one menu item from the interactive menu;

add the menu item selected by the second user to the group order; and

transmit the group order to a point-of-sale (POS) system of the restaurant.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the indication from the first user includes an identification of the second user to join the group order.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable software module is configured to utilize at least one application programming interface (API) to send the invitation through one or more social networking sites.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the identification of the second user comprises an email address associated with the second user, and wherein the executable software module is configured to send the invitation in an email to the email address associated with the second user.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the identification of the second user comprises a selection of at least one of a plurality of contacts associated with the first user.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the executable software module is configured to retrieve contact information for at least one of the plurality of contacts from at least one of the social networking sites utilizing the API.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the invitation comprises a link to a user interface for joining the group order.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable software module is further configured to provide one or more offers on at least one of the social networking sites utilizing an API.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable software module is further configured to:

utilize an API to receive information associated with at least one of the first user and the second user from the one or more social networking sites;

determine, based at least in part on the information received from the one or more social networking sites, at least one of up-sell option and a promotional offer; and

provide the at least one the up-sell option and promotional offer in the invitation to the second user to join the group order.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable software module is further configured to utilize an API to share information related at least a portion of the group order through one or more social networking sites.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable software module is further configured to:

in response to an indication from the second user accepting the invitation to join the group order, provide the interactive menu associated with the restaurant to the device of the second user through the user interface.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable software module is further configured to receive, from the device of the first user, at least one of the following:

a dollar limit for a total dollar amount of the group order, and dollar limit for a total dollar amount of a portion of the group order associated with the second user.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the executable software module is further configured to determine whether a price of the menu item selected by the second user exceeds one or more dollar limits.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the executable software module is configured to:

in response to a determination that the price of the menu item selected by the second user does not exceed one or more dollar limits, add the menu item selected by the second user to the group order.

25. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable software module is further configured to receive, from the device of the first user, a payment distribution.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the payment distribution comprises charging a total dollar amount of the group order to one of the first user and the second user.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the payment distribution comprises charging an amount to each of the first user and the second user based at least in part on a price of a respective selection of menu items made by each of the first user and the second user.

28. The system of claim 1, wherein the executable software module is further configured to receive, from the device of the first user, a cut-off time for at least one of the following:

the second user to join the group order, and the second user to amend the group order.

37. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one hardware processor, is further configured to generate different versions of the interactive menus based on a type of user device.

38. The system of claim 1, wherein the receive a group order from the device of the first user comprises receiving an indication that an order is a group order.

39. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of different restaurants comprises a plurality of different restaurant chains.

11. A method for take-out order management and sharing, the method comprising:

by at least one hardware processor, importing menu data from a plurality of restaurant Point-of-Sale (POS) systems, associated with a plurality of restaurants, over at least one network, wherein the menu data comprises a plurality of menu items,

by the at least one hardware processor, generating a plurality of interactive menus based on the imported menu data for each of the plurality of restaurants, wherein each of the plurality of interactive menus comprises one or more menu screens, and wherein the one or more menu screens comprise a subset of one or more of the plurality of menu items;

by the at least one hardware processor, receive an identification of a restaurant of the plurality of restaurants;

by the at least one hardware processor, provide an interactive menu associated with the restaurant to a device of a first user through a user interface;

by the at least one hardware processor, receive a group order from the first user through the user interface;

by the at least one hardware processor, receive an indication from the first user to include a second user in the group order;

by the at least one hardware processor, receive, from a device of the second user, a selection of at least one menu item from the interactive menu;

by the at least one hardware processor, add the menu item selected by the second user to the group order; and

by the at least one hardware processor, transmit the group order to a point-of-sale (POS) system of the restaurant.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the indication from the first user includes an identification of the second user to join the group order.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises utilizing an application programming interface (API) to send the invitation through one or more social networking sites.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the identification of the second user comprises an email address associated with the second user, and wherein the method further comprises sending the invitation in an email to the email address associated with the second user.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the identification of the second user comprises a selection of at least one of a plurality of contacts associated with the first user.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the method further retrieving contact information for at least one of the plurality of contacts from at least one of the social networking sites utilizing the API.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the invitation comprises a link to a user interface for joining the group order.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises providing one or more offers on at least one of the social networking sites utilizing an API.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

utilizing an API to receive information associated with at least one of the first user and the second user from the one or more social networking sites;

determining, based at least in part on the information received from the one or more social networking sites, at least one of an up-sell option and a promotional offer; and

providing the at least one of the up-sell option and the promotional offer in the invitation to the second user to join the group order.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises utilizing an API to share information related to at least a portion of the group order through one or more social networking sites.

29. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

in response to an indication from the second user accepting the invitation to join the group order, providing the interactive menu associated with the restaurant to the device of the second user through the user interface.

30. The method of claim 11, wherein the executable software module is further configured to receive, from the device of the first user, at least one of the following:

a dollar limit for a total dollar amount of the group order, and dollar limit for a total dollar amount of a portion of the group order associated with the second user.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the method further comprises determining whether a price of the menu item selected by the second user exceeds one or more dollar limits.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the method further comprises:

in response to a determination that the price of the menu item selected by the second user does not exceed one or more dollar limits, adding the menu item selected by the second user to the group order.

33. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises receiving, from the device of the first user, a payment distribution.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the payment distribution comprises charging a total dollar amount of the group order to one of the first user and the second user.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the payment distribution comprises charging an amount to each of the first user and the second user based at least in part on a price of a respective selection of menu items made by each of the first user and the second user.

36. The method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises receiving, from the device of the first user, a cut-off time for at least one of the following:

the second user to join the group order, and the second user to amend the group order.

40. The method of claim 11, by the at least one hardware processor, generating different versions of the plurality of interactive menus based on a type of user device.

41. The method of claim 11, wherein the receive a group order from the device of the first user comprises receiving an indication that an order is a group order.

42. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of different restaurants comprises a plurality of different restaurant chains.