By Matthew Conroy
TAMPA, Fla.– University of Tampa students are having mixed feelings about the new Grubhub integration on campus.
Over the summer, UTampa partnered with Grubhub to upgrade dining services on campus. With the Spartan Club redesigned with Grubhub kiosks, a new era of dining at UTampa has begun. Now that the Grubhub integration has been in effect for five months, students have been very open about their feelings.
Senior Isabella Jeczo has lived on campus for all four years of her time as a student at UTampa. Jeczo expressed her displeasure with the Grubhub system.
“The switch to Grubhub has affected me in mostly bad ways,” said Jeczo. “Chick-fil-A is a mess because of the Grubhub, and you will not get your food for an hour after you order. There’s no communication anymore now that everything is digital, and you don’t get the connection with people that you used to.”
Face-to-face communication with the dining service staff was a key element of getting food on campus. The face-to-face aspect allowed for accuracy in orders when the student was able to correct the staff if they made a mistake.
Long wait times are also a concern for students. However, there are ways to minimize the wait time.
Popular dining options like Salsa Rico and the Aussie Grill accept in-person orders. The orders can be overwhelming during busy times like lunch rush and dinner. This can lead to longer wait times for students seeking a quick meal.
“If you use [Grubhub] correctly, it can be a good tool,” said senior Christopher Caggiano said. “You can order before class and have it ready to be picked up after class. But, at the same time if you want a quick meal, you can’t now because of the Grubhub system. At places like Salsa Rico, where they take both in-person and Grubhub orders, it gets backed up quickly because they seem to prioritize the Grubhub orders. It also seems like the staff has difficulty using Grubhub.”
However, not everyone is upset about the changes.
Sophomore Jack Corrigan said, “I think it actually saves me a lot of time compared to how it used to be. Now, I don’t have to walk to the food spot until it’s ready, instead of waiting for 40 minutes for my food.”
At the beginning of the integration, The Minaret reported: “The real-time updates in the menu, though advance ordering is possible, reduce the queue and waiting time for students to get their meals. Therefore, picking up is very efficient, especially during peak lunch hours.”
“We have received feedback. However, since the start of implementation, we have resolved a lot of the issues and continue to work on any issues that may come up,” said Sharon Lerum, the operations manager of UTampa Dining Services.
“Hopefully this [wait time] issue is resolved — if it is continuing to occur, please do let me know which location so we can improve on it,” said Lerum. “With any new systems, we look forward to getting feedback from students to better improve on it.”