Food and Drink Delivery at RailRiders Baseball Games Changing the Way Fans Buy Their Bud Lights and

Bud Light, Float Hybrid and Tapin2 bring mobile food and drink delivery to fans.

Fans of the defending Triple-A National Champions won't have to miss a moment of the action with the launch of in-seat food and drink delivery. Now fans over 21 can order beer straight from their mobile device and have it delivered to their seat at all RailRiders home games.

The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Minor League Baseball team introduced the new food & drink delivery system for sports fans who don’t want to wait in line for a beer or a hot dog. The feature, powered by mobile ordering software provider Tapin2, designed by digital agency Float Hybrid, and sponsored by Bud Light, improves the fan experience by eliminating the hassle of leaving your seat whenever hunger or thirst strikes.

Fans can place their order at RailRidersFood.com, and have it delivered to their seat by a designated stadium “runner”. The ordering system communicates directly with the concessionaire, making delivery times faster and more efficient.

“Waiting in line detracts from the optimal fan experience and represents lost opportunity for the stadium vendors,” says Keith Bendes, VP Marketing & Strategic Partnerships at Float Hybrid, who led the design of the feature. “Instead of missing an inning to get a beer at the concession, fans can now stay in their seats and have their beer delivered to them. It’s a better experience for the fans and a more efficient system for the vendors.”

Float Hybrid and Bud Light have been working with some of the top sports teams across baseball, basketball and football to innovate the fan experience. Bud Light continues to be a leader amongst sponsors in investing behind emerging technologies and media that push teams to be more digitally focused.

In-stadium food & drink delivery has gained steam in recent years, starting with the San Francisco 49ers high profile implementation at Levi’s Stadium. Bud Light’s partnership with Float and Tapin2 enables venues of all sizes to provide the same pickup and delivery services to their fans, with an out of the box, cost efficient software solution. Tapin2’s SmartVenue™ software powers the team's mobile marketplace to enhance customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and generate new revenue, all with a personalized web and mobile experience.

The RailRiders integrated the SmartVenue™ food & drink delivery solution with their concessionaires point of sale system. When a fan places an order, the concessionaire is notified on their POS device. Once the order is prepared, a runner is dispatched to make the delivery. This process is automated to optimize which concession prepares the order, and which runner is selected to make the delivery. The only task for the consumer is placing the order on their mobile device.

Consumers’ ever-present mobile devices are having a vast impact on their behavior, and have spurred significant growth in mobile payments. Mobile “order ahead” is expected to be a $38 billion dollar industry by 2020, and sports stadiums are aggressively pursuing their share of that growth.“Stadiums of all sizes are looking at food & drink delivery to drive engagement with an increasingly digital consumer,” says Dustin Alpert, VP of Sales and Business Development at Tapin2. “Fans want convenience and optimal service once they enter the stadium. If they don’t find that, they won’t come back.”

Sports Stadiums are not the only one’s looking at mobile ordering to improve the fan experience. Music venues are also adopting the functionality. The duo of Float Hybrid and Tapin2 recently partnered with the FPSF music festival in Houston, Texas to offer festival goers beer pickup. Fans that ordered beer via the FPSF app could skip the line and pick up their beer at any of the designated tents. The festival used the same technology as the RailRiders but with a focus on pickup instead of delivery.

“Venues have to understand what their fans want and personalize the experience based on those needs. It is not a one size fits all solution,” adds Alpert.

The use of mobile ordering for pickup and delivery will continue to grow amongst venues. As the in-home viewing experience improves every year, the onus is on the venue to create the optimal fan experience on premise. Avoiding the lines by getting Bud Light and hot dogs delivered to your seat is certainly a step in the right direction.