Food Service Apps at OU
Online and mobile food delivery services are becoming more and more prominent among students on college campuses. With students and faculty having busy schedules, waiting in line for food and beverages is no longer a suitable option for many.
Tapingo and OrderUp are popular options for busy students when they are hungry. The convenience of not having to wait in line at restaurants on campus with Tapingo and having your favorite food delivered to your door with OrderUp is a college student’s dream come true.
Owner of OrderUp in Oklahoma, Blake Cantrell says business is great on OU’s campus.
“OrderUp has been extremely successful in Norman and is our best performing market. In fact, I was named OrderUp Franchisee of the Year in 2015 after the success of Norman’s first year in operation,” Cantrell said.
Both businesses have downloadable apps for iPhone and Andriod and are commonly used on campus at businesses including Starbucks, Crossroads, Quiznos, and many more.
Most students like African-American studies senior Danielle Myers, use these apps when they are in a rush and do not have time to sit down to eat lunch or dinner due to class or other extracurricular obligations.
“I mainly use it when I am running late or during dead week, that way I don’t have to wait in long lines,” Myers said.
Yet, for students like health exercise science senior Darrian Blanchard, using these services is more about safety above convenience.
“I use the Tapingo app the most when I am on campus studying during the late night so that I don’t have to leave campus to get something to eat,” Blanchard said.
Many argue that grocery shopping saves more money, while these apps cause students to spend more, but with other responsibilities that life brings, students rarely have money to grocery shop in the first place.
“I actually do not go grocery shopping very often because after paying rent, car insurance and a cell phone bill, I am not left with much to go grocery shopping for things of nutritional value,” Blanchard said.
Hale budgets only $50 for her groceries, which she says isn’t enough to buy items that, with her eating three meals a day, will last for a long period of time. Therefore, she is forced to buy just the necessities.
Aside from not having money to go grocery shopping, even the apps don’t always provide a satisfactory experience. Biochemical junior Alicia Hale dislikes OrderUp’s delivery fee.
“I am a starving college student. If I can’t afford gas to get there, I can’t afford the delivery fee to have it delivered,” Hale said.
Mechanical engineering junior Alexis Hall and Myers, have both experienced issues with accurate wait times on both apps.
“The timing is off sometimes, especially when there is a lot of orders,” Myers said.
Manager at Starbucks in the Oklahoma Memorial Union, Rhonda Milia said there is a misconception among users on how Tapingo works. Due to this, she says business is more difficult during their busy peak times, which is usually when classes are dismissed.
“Some of these kids are under the impression that when they put an order in, they’re bumped to the beginning of the line. They don’t realize that their cup goes in the order with everyone else,” Milia said.
Milia also said that when business gets really busy, she designates one person to work just on Tapingo orders and the other work on those who decide to stand in line. She also said that they alternate between which orders get served first, so a person who waits in line order may be completed first, then a Tapingo order, then another person who is waiting in line is served and so on and so forth.
Although, Director of Sooner Card and Assistant to the Vice President, Ryan Trevino found good in sometimes having to still wait in line.
“Our students, faculty and staff are busy and on the move constantly and, while you still may have to wait for your order even with using Tapingo, that wait time can be spent chatting with colleagues or studying with fellow students rather than waiting in line,” Trevino said.
According to an OU Daily article released two years ago, soon after Tapingo’s release, 4,500 users registered with the app and 1,500 users used it on campus per week. They also reported that 200 new devices downloaded and registered with Tapingo every week.
Trevino said 878 customers used Tapingo every day in the 2015–2016 academic year.
“The top three restaurants, looking at average daily transactions, for the 2015–2016 academic year were Crossroads in the Oklahoma Memorial Union, The Bookmark in the Bizzell Memorial Library, and Starbucks in the Oklahoma Memorial Union with 159, 153 and 133 daily average customers, respectively,” Trevino said.
Cantrell, who was a student at OU from 2004 to 2008, was pleased that OrderUp helped many students get jobs.
“We currently have a customer base of about 50,000 customers, and we fulfill hundreds of deliveries per day. We’re also happy to be able to bring nearly 75 jobs to students and the Norman community,” Cantrell said.
Surprisingly, many people who order their food and drinks, don’t always come by the business to pick them up.
“The one thing that I notice that really strikes me is that people order a drink then forget. So, we give away about six or seven drinks a day that people don’t come pick up,” Milia said.
Overall, both businesses continue to see success on OU’s campus and plan to be around for a long time and with all of the choices of food options on each app, it’s even hard for the owners to choose what they want to eat from time to time.
“I try to use OrderUp whenever possible. Choosing my favorite restaurant in town is a tough one, we have too many. What I can say is, if you like wings and haven’t had thee sweet ‘n spicy wings from O’Connell’s, do it now,” Cantrell said.