The offer is available from June 4 through June 7 to celebrate the opening of a new location in New York City, the chain’s 500^th restaurant. Orders must be place online or through Moe’s mobile app in order to be eligible for the offer.

“First and foremost this strategy makes sense for users that are frequent users of a brand to use an app,” said Marci Troutman, CEO of Siteminis, Atlanta, GA.

“One main opportunity is that this enables a brand to engage consumers with push notifications,” she said. “High frequency brand consumers will purchase more and engage more through their mobile devices, the big question is whether you lose reach and frequency by going through an App, but a brand has to think through whether an App/mobile web combination is a good approach.

“Brands can accomplish the same thing through a mobile Web engagement.”

Ms. Troutman is not affiliated with Moe’s Southwest Grill and commented based on her experience in mobile.

Moe’s Southwest Grill was not able to respond by the press deadline.

Free burrito
Moe’s Southwest Grill is a chain of fast-casual Mexican restaurants. The chain plans to open 50 more locations this year.

To mark the opening of the new location, all of Moe’s restaurants nationwide will offer a free burrito to customers who purchase a large drink.

Customers must also enter a promo code appearing on the Moe’s Web site to redeem the offer.

The Moe’s Southwest Grill ordering app enables users to place orders from nearby locations and pay ahead to avoid having to stand in line.

A recent update of the app also enables users to get available pickup times for their orders during the final checkout and see store locations without being logged in. The updated app also adds support for iPhone 5.

Engaging loyal customers
The app’s other features include the ability to store a credit card for fast ordering, save favorite orders for future use and connect to Facebook and Twitter to share activity with friends.

A growing number of restaurants are tapping mobile to help them engage with their customers.

For example, quick-service restaurant chain Fazoli’s has launched a mobile pilot in three markets enabling customers to check-in with their smartphones to receive offers (see story).

“Once a brand commits to a mobile consumer engagement they need to be prepared with an ongoing resource to manage consumer messaging,” Ms. Troutman said. “Content and context is critical to the ongoing consumer brand relationship

“Brands should also consider whether or not an App centric strategy reduces their reach and frequency to the casual customer,” she said. “With a promotion such as this, there could be a push to engage and grow their loyalty customer base.”

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York