Campus Life | August 20th, 2020

ICYMI: Grubhub is now on the ‘Hill’

By: Skylar Boone

Changes are happening all across the country as college campuses prepare to go back to school this fall. With COVID-19 pressuring administrations, universities are finding ways to reduce the exposure and spread of the virus on campus. 

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) dining services have recently partnered with Grubhub for students to safely access the dining facilities outside of the Residence Dining Hall. When dining at any other location, students will use the Grubhub app to order their meal, pay for it and then pick it up from that location.

“With COVID-19 everything has changed,” said Tripp Goodwin, general manager for Metz at FAMU. “We are in the process of testing out menu inputting for all the locations on the app”.

The locations on campus that will be participating in the Grubhub partnership are The Food Court, The Orange Room, Rattler’s Nest and Coleman Library. This new partnership with the ordering platform is not only for the overall safety of the students but to increase convenience as well.

Goodwin shared that the system is designed to be completely contactless even with payments. Students will have to prepay for their meal using their Rattler card with flex bucks, Rattler bucks, or a meal swipe. Using a debit or credit card is also a payment option and meal swipe amounts have been raised to $6.75 per swipe.

“With the new changes, the Resident Dining Hall will be the only option for dining in this semester. Retail orders may only be placed using the Grubhub app and picked up in person at the designated time for takeout,” said Goodwin.

As students are set to only order via take-out, the university is expecting to see an influx of trash in designated areas.

“There will not be more places to put trash, but residents will have to make proper disposal a routine thing,” said Assistant Housing Director Terence Turner.

As of now, the Office of University Housing plans to communicate the expectations to residents that they have the responsibility of properly disposing of their trash. According to Turner, they do not plan to let improper disposal impact housing’s ability to deliver exceptional student experience and outstanding customer service to residents.

Turner said, “Even though we have restrictions due to COVID-19 and there are fewer places on campus for students to sit and eat, residents will be allowed to eat in the areas available in their housing facility. This is only as long as they meet CDC and university guidelines.”

“I think people might like it cause they can order food from an app now making it more convenient,” said Resident Assistant Kyla Maynard.

Maynard is concerned about any fees that the app may charge and whether or not this will affect students who budget their flex bucks. She is also curious about how to connect her Rattler card information to her Grubhub account.

It is fairly easy to get the app setup after downloading it. First, you open the app, go to MyGrubhub at the bottom and click on the Settings gear in the top right corner. Select Campus Dining, type in Florida A&M and follow the prompts.

“The easiest way to get your account set up is to find one of the QR Codes around campus on the bottom of the Grubhub flyers,” said Goodwin. “We have 250 students signed up for Grubhub already and we are excited to get things kicked off on August 24th.”