Hey Google, what’s for dinner?
Google has incorporated food ordering features into its mobile apps, so iOS and Android users can order up chicken wings, Cheetos, hum bow, and vegan poke bowls with extra kale, straight from local restaurants without having to install an app or open up 14 menu PDFs.
Now thanks to the clever folks at Google, hangry people everywhere can order food delivery directly from Google Search, Maps, and Google Assistant. That doesn’t mean that a Google intern is going to show up at your door with your White Castle Crave Case or pineapple pizza. Instead the tech giant is partnering with companies that are already in the delivery game—like DoorDash, Postmates, Delivery.com, Slice, ChowNow, and more on the way.
To make Google bring you tacos, head to Google Search or Google Maps and search for your favorite guacamole purveyor. It will work if you search for either a specific restaurant or a cuisine. I typed “bring me sushi” and it took me to a map of friendly neighborhood tech-savvy restaurants. From there, simply click on the new “Order Online” button, choose between delivery (duh) or pickup (ugh, why?), type in your address if necessary, and select which service you want to order your food through (some are free, some are not). Then, just start your over-ordering. If the restaurant supports it, you can order your food through Google’s interface and dole out your virtual dollars through Google Pay.
To make the Google Assistant order you a chalupa, simply ask, “Hey Google, order food.” And the Assistant will take it from there. If you order a lot of chalupas, you can ask the Assistant to repeat a previous order and save yourself the decision fatigue of thinking of something else to eat. That said, Google’s blog post didn’t mention whether this feature is going to be available through its smart speakers or smart displays, but presumably Google’s engineers will get hangry again some day and make it happen.
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