Smart food lockers for digital order pickup have become more prominent in leading brands’ designs for their “restaurants of the future,” because they minimize labor for order handoff, while providing fast, contactless pickup for busy customers.

Today, food lockers got even smarter. Apex Order Pickup Solutions, the leading global provider of self-serve automated solutions for use in foodservice, retail and b-to-b ecommerce, is introducing its next generation software platform, ApexIQ. This software release powers the company’s just-launched OrderHQ Food Locker Solutions and provides levels of operator control and portfolio-wide data visibility and analytics that are unheard of in other food lockers.

A leap forward in flexibility and scalability

This software integrates Apex lockers with existing point of sale and other back-of -house management systems to make it easier for restaurants to offer quick and convenient online ordering and pickup, creating a seamless experience for employees as well as customers. Learn more about the advantages of Apex Order Pickup Solutions’ data integration here: Order Pickup Data: Eliminating Your Brand’s Blindspots.

Apex has built native integrations with many foodservice industry technology leaders including Compass Boost, Fresh Technology, Grubhub, Hangry, Koala, NCR, NovaDine, Servy, Vista, YinzCam, and more. Earlier this year, global foodservice equipment manufacturer Welbilt, Inc. announced a licensing agreement with Apex to manufacture and market the lockers under its Merco brand.

“These partnerships illustrate our commitment to providing an integrated, efficient solution to order pickup,” Wills says. “The demand for takeout foodservice continues to grow, even as we approach the end of the pandemic, and we’re prepared to meet the needs of the industry.”