Tired of busy signals or people who can't comprehend your order? If trying to get dinner delivered to your residence hall is usually a hassle, fret no longer. Thanks to the new Web site campusfood.com, students can now order food for pick-up or delivery without ever having to pick up the phone.
The Web service allows students to place food orders online with participating area restaurants. After placing an order, students are sent a confirmation e-mail.
"Campusfood.com will change the future of how people will be ordering their food," Robert Saunders, marketing coordinator for the site, said. "Gone are the days of busy signals, language barriers and the never-ending hours of waiting for delivery. Students will be able to see a menu of their favorite restaurants online and be able to interactively order directly from their computer."
Participating Restaurants include Parkway Pizza, FD Subs, Dragon Express, Mama Flora's, Stewart's Root Beer Drive-In and Golden Empire, among others. As an added bonus, the Web site is giving away free food this month to students at the College in order to entice them to use the service. From now until Oct. 14, students can log on and pick a free meal from a list of select items at FD Subs, Dragon Express or Vino's Pizza.
According to Saunders, in addition to the free meal promotion, campusfood.com will offer "weekly specials discounts" as well. The Web site is able to give these deals, Saunders said, because it negotiates with restaurants to provide discounts and specials available exclusively for online ordering. There is no charge to use the service.
So is this really easier than just picking up the phone and placing your order the old-fashioned way? Some students think so.
"I live off campus and I don't have a residential phone," Danielle Hacker, junior women's and gender studies major, said. "Pizza and other food places won't deliver off campus to cell phones. If by using the Web site I could get food delivered to my house, that would be a major plus. I think it's a great idea."
One concern, however, is privacy. Since the Web site asks students to share personal information such as e-mail and residential address, security is always a concern.
"It's a good idea, but I would be hesitant because I want to make sure the information gets into the right hands," Jessica Barile, sophomore art education major, said.
Still, most students feel the Web site would make their lives a little easier.
"My friend uses it at Rutgers all the time and I was waiting for them to bring it here," Tierney Dwyer, junior English major, said. "It's easy and efficient, especially now that the new phone system on campus is so annoying. Now you don't have to use your cell minutes or anything to order food."
The Web site, which is also available to off-campus students, is already in place at over 200 schools in the country, including Princeton, Rutgers and Rider Universities, and includes over 1,000 restaurants.
