Radius Networks and Apex Order Pickup Solutions have partnered to provide restaurants and retailers with a frictionless locker pickup experience. The partnership will integrate location technology to enable restaurants and retailers to place food orders in a locker at the optimal time to maximize food freshness and locker capacity.

Radius Networks is a leading enterprise location technology company, and its Flybuy SaaS platform is being used by restaurants, retailers, hospitality and grocers both in the US and abroad.

Radius' SaaS solutions are designed to help companies save time. The company's core platform, Flybuy, provides solutions for curbside and in-store pickup; contactless payments; drive-thru capability for mobile identification and offer redemption, table-side services for dine-in; same-day delivery; and proximity-triggered notifications.

Apex provides a suite of self-service, automated pickup solutions. The company's locker pickup solution is used in food service, retail and B2B e-commerce, as well as deployments in the higher education campus space.

The use of smart lockers for order pickup has become a particularly valuable alternative on college campuses, where increased dining flexibility has become a key request among students. Apex and Radius' Flybuy platform provides a fast and contactless customer experience, while also maximizing labor efficiency -- another emerging concern on college campuses.

The integration of the two companies will provides businesses with visibility into the entire customer or delivery driver’s journey as orders make their way to the store. This in turn will better enable operators to perfectly time order prep and loading to the locker to minimize order dwell and customer or driver wait times.

Flybuy Pickup location technology accurately predicts the arrival time of the customer, but it can be leveraged for a number of solutions, including:

• automatic locker opening upon customer arrival
• code provisioning when the customer enters the premise
• monitoring food freshness based on when the item entered and exited the locker.

“Flybuy allows crew members greater visibility to know when an order should be placed in the locker,” says Mike Rizzo, Chief Growth Officer at Apex Order Pickup Solutions.

“Customers are given information regarding their order throughout their journey to the store, as well as pickup instructions upon arrival," adds Rizzo. "The crew is aware of the customer’s exact location, can prepare and load orders into a locker to coincide with the customer’s arrival, without having to put labor against curbside delivery or managing the order handoff.”

When combined with the data from the smart locker, an operator has all the necessary data to optimize its off-premises business.

“Online ordering isn’t going anywhere; in fact, mobile ordering grew over 105% over the past year,” says Dan Estrada, Chief Strategy Officer at Radius Networks. “We’re thrilled to partner with Apex Order Pickup Solutions to ensure that restaurants and retailers can successfully add lockers as an additional pickup option as they navigate labor shortages, high off-premise order volume and delivery driver backup.”