• the ORDER AHEAD PIONEER

    With enthusiastic reception from McDonald's president and CEO at the time, Ontain deployed several McQuick pilot locations in Seattle and Toronto. Innovations included "Curbside" fulfillment service with designated parking stalls and in-store Kiosks to Order & Pay.

  • the ORDER AHEAD PIONEER

    Following the promising Starbucks Express test in Seattle, Starbucks Express was deployed to all cafes in Denver for a city-wide pilot in 2002. With a standard mobile phone, Starbucks customers could re-order their favorite beverages and snacks in less than 12 seconds. In 2002, Ontain had already built a Starbucks first Order Ahead app for Compaq's Pocket PC, before the iPhone, Android, and mobile apps were widely available.

  • the ORDER AHEAD PIONEER

    Before Ontain created the foundation for Subway's Gift and Loyalty platform, Ontain deployed Subway Express to all restaurants in greater Minneapolis and St. Paul. And while Subway's menu rivaled Starbucks in complexity and frequency of updates, all Subway restaurants were franchised with varying prices, product availability and settlement processes. Subway's Order Ahead platform available today is a derivative of the original work performed by the Ontain team.

  • the ORDER AHEAD PIONEER

    The success of today's digital program at Panera Bread can be traced back to the original Panera Express program that was built and deployed by Ontain in 2003.

  • the ORDER AHEAD PIONEER

    In 2002, Boston Market embraced Ontain's Online Ordering platform with pilots in both Minneapolis, MN and Ann Arbor, MI. In conjunction with the Online Ordering pilot, Boston Market used Ontain's Stored Value platform to launch their own national gift card program.

Ontain Corporation was incorporated in 1999 as a digital pioneer in the Food & Beverage industry. The venture-backed company was headquartered in Washington State and conducted business in both Canada and the U.S. during its five years of operation.  While its platform would eventually power both Subway’s and Boston Market’s Gift and Loyalty programs, Ontain was better known for its pioneering work in the Order Ahead space. The company powered the first Platform-as-a-Services (PaaS) solution for Mobile Commerce and Web-based Online Ordering in the Food & Beverage industry. Among its early customers were McDonald’s, Panera Bread, Boston Market and Subway.

Ontain built and deployed Starbucks’ first city-wide pilot of Mobile Commerce, which allowed Starbucks’ customers to order, pay, and skip the line to pick up their favorite beverage. Before mobile apps, smartphones, or widely available broadband, Ontain enabled Starbucks Express customers to use their mobile phones to order and pay for more than 100,000 transactions.

Unfortunately, the company ceased operations in 2004 as the business model was premature.

From the very beginning of Ontain’s operation through to its closure, Jason Strashek held roles as both a Technical Product Manager and a Client Services Lead. Today, Mr. Strashek retains all of Ontain’s Order Ahead intellectual property and other assets in his company, Cardant Holdings Ltd.