• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, February 24, 2020

KFC Canada on Monday publicly rolled out a pilot using Google's food ordering feature across Google Search, Google Maps and Google Assistant on Android and iOS phones.

Canadians who search for their local KFC on Google Search or Google Maps will see a new Order Online button. When clicked, they can then browse their local KFC menu, place an order for delivery or pickup, and then pay for their purchase all in one place without leaving the Google platform.

On Google Assistant, the wake words "Hey Google” begin the order process. When reordering, KFC patrons say "Hey Google, order food again from KFC" and the Assistant will pull up past orders for a quicker checkout.

Jason Cassidy, marketing director of KFC Canada, believes Google’s food ordering platform gives customers a “frictionless experience.”

Think of the data added to Google's targeting tool chest.

Google began enabling consumers to order food from search in the U.S. without a delivery app in May 2019. In Search and Maps, the feature works with an Order Online button that appears when searching for supported restaurants.

Google says the choice of restaurants depends on their delivery options in U.S., Australia, Canada, or India -- all in English. From Google Search, patrons search for a restaurant, then scroll down until they see information and images for the restaurant, and choose an ordering option. If no button exists for planning an order, the restaurant isn't available. Then the consumer must choose the delivery provider.

For the most part, the Google Search and Maps ordering option is tied to delivery services, which should remedy the problem that restaurants faced  with last year. Some claimed that delivery apps added the restaurants to their service without an official approval.

In October 2019, Grubhub told media outlet Eater it is adding non-partnered restaurants to avoid being at a “disadvantage compared to any other food delivery platform.” A Grubhub communications manager reportedly said is simply following the industry trends, and to compete, it has to add non-partnered restaurants.