× Expand Courtesy of Ritual

Order-ahead app Ritual just rolled out in St. Louis. With its arrival, it's hosting a $1 Food Fest, June 3–14.

Launched five years ago, the Toronto-based startup's services are now available in 25 markets, mostly across North America. With Sydney and London on Ritual’s roster, the company plans to expand to additional international markets later this year.

Ritual’s mobile app allows users to place orders in advance for pickup at downtown venues, mostly cafés and quick-service restaurants. Customers pay via the app, then visit the restaurant to collect their orders without having to wait in line or pay in person.

“We can remove all those steps in placing the order and save the consumer time,” says Jim Phillips, regional manager for Ritual North America.

Each participating restaurant will offer one dish for the $1 Food Fest, which will only be accessible to Ritual users via the app. Phillips says the lineup of restaurants and menu items will be finalized in the next few weeks. (We’ll share more news of the participating venues and $1 items when we receive more details.) The festival is slated to feature more than 30 participating downtown, including Dao Tien, Planet Sub, Java Plus, and Arista Gourmet.

“It’s a great way for customers to discover and try new places and, from a merchant standpoint, it helps expand their customer base by gaining access to the types of mobile users that are in the Ritual marketplace,” says Phillips, adding that restaurants typically choose their most popular items to spotlight during the festival.

A key demographic for Ritual’s business model is office workers who step away from their desks in search of a quick, easy lunch. In addition to the app’s central promise of skip-the-line convenience, one additional feature is the option to “piggyback” on another user’s order. Think of it as taking the office coffee run into an online space. Within the app, one Ritual user can announce they’re picking up food from a certain venue, giving up to three colleagues the opportunity to add their own meals, with the original user collecting the entire order. Each user pays for their own food and drink, saving the hassle of collecting money and splitting up change.

“We built that into our app as a function where, if I'm going out to place an order, I can essentially broadcast it to my teammates,” says Phillips. “Then those folks can jump on my order. The person who's going gets extra Ritual reward points, and the people who jump on the order get free delivery back to the office.”

Courtesy of Ritual

Ritual’s digital ordering platform streamlines transactions for restaurants, says Phillips, allowing them to complete more sales. Ritual also provides merchants with insights about consumer behavior that can help them tailor their menus accordingly.

“They can segment their customer base in terms of frequency," says Phillips. "They can look at things like what menu items generate return visits, identify particular users within their neighborhood who may not have purchased at their store yet, and we can help them increase their customer base by marketing directly to those customers or even making specific offers to them."

Ritual is available for download on Google Play and Apple’s App Store. The service’s reach in St. Louis is currently limited to two restaurants, Arista Gourmet and Planet Sub, though new venues will be added as the $1 Food Fest approaches.