From Westfield Labs Comes An App To Let Your Pre-Order Meals From The Food Court

Westfield Labs has emerged as the technology and innovation arm of shopping center behemoth Westfield Group. It manages the online and mobile presence for most of the company’s shopping centers, but also builds and tests out new applications and services that can be used by partnering retailers.

One of its most recent applications is Dine On Time, an app that lets busy shoppers skip the line at restaurants in its food court and pay for their meal via mobile app. Since many of the diners in its San Francisco location are actually workers who have offices nearby, time is of the essence, and being able to place an order without having to wait in line is huge.

With the app, users can browse the menus of participating restaurants, add items to their carts and check out. Before ordering, users receive an estimate for when their food will be ready, and it sends a text message when it actually is. After that, users can either pick up their food or choose to have it delivered.

Of course, this kind of app isn’t totally new, and there are companies like OrderAhead that are already trying to work with restaurants to enable that type of functionality. What’s unique about Dine On Time is that Westfield Labs has built it for retailers that are in its shopping centers, and it will be gradually making the app available in new retail locations over time.

We got a chance to test out the app for ourselves and learn about Westfield Labs’ mission and some of the other innovations that the company has been working on in recent months. Check out the video above for more.