Couch potatoes have another reason to stay parked in front of the TV.
Campusfood.com, an online food ordering service, is coming to Ohio State to make it easier for campus area residents to enjoy the cuisine of local restaurants at home.
The service was designed to eliminate the busy signals, language barriers and hold times that come with ordering food.
“These days we spend so much time on computers and using cell phone minutes, when you are put on hold for a long time (it) can be costly, especially to poor college students,” said Ismael Archbold, market coordinator for campusfood.com.
Campusfood.com is the nation’s largest college-based online ordering network. The New York-based company serves over 200 universities and 1,000 restaurants nationwide.
“We’ve been around since 1997,” Archbold said. “The company was started by Michael Saunders while he was attending the University of Pennsylvania. He got tired of getting busy signals every time he called to order food, so he thought ‘wouldn’t it be great if I could do this online?'”
The service started with 13 schools and grew, Archbold said.
“We’re pretty much an institution at the University of Connecticut,” Archbold said. ” Freshmen get there and the upperclassmen tell them to check us out.”
There are 10 OSU campus-area restaurants registered with the site including: Cluck-U-Chicken, Kelley’s, Apollo’s, Wingslingers, Indian Kitchen, Little Bistro, Moon Star Chinese, P.J’s and two China Buffet locations. Each restaurant’s menu will be listed on the site along with information on ordering, delivery and payment.
“Campusfood is beneficial because in the winter nobody wants to go outside,” Archbold said. “Plus, when you order online, there is no chance of an address being messed-up, and you don’t have to worry about looking for a menu under the couch.”
Campusfood.com will be offering customers several promotions throughout the year. Their introductory offer is a free meal for anyone placing an order between Oct. 29 and Nov. 11. Customers will have a choice of a free order of wings from either Wingslingers or Cluck-U-Chicken, or a gyro from Apollo’s.
“Everyone likes free food, so we are offering this promotion to let students know we exist and encourage them to try the service,” Archbold said.
Many restaurant patrons are excited about the new ordering option.
“We always decide where we are going to lunch while we are sitting in class,” said Bassel Korkor, a first-year law student. “We have our laptops, so if we could do it ahead of the time that would be great.”
Restaurants will pay a fee to use the service, but most owners do not mind if it increases their sales.
“I am new to the area, and I am hoping it will help business,” said Syed Hossin, owner of the Little Bistro. “I am charged a certain percentage of the orders that I receive through the site, but it will be worth it if more people come in.”
There are some restaurants that cannot participate in the program because of ordering restrictions.
“We don’t take orders unless we can actually talk to the person,” said Aaron Lakes, general manager of Penn Station. “We prefer to talk to people one on one because if they order a cheesesteak, for example, we still have four more questions to ask them.”
