Ohio University rolled out a new app, OHIO EATS, to help alleviate the long lines students were experiencing at campus dining halls.
Food can be ordered in advance and picked up at a specific location so students can avoid the long wait times they were previously experiencing in dining halls. Additionally, students who are nervous about food allergies or dietary restrictions can use the app to see what will be in each meal.
Amid the app’s release, OU students were waiting in lines up to an hour long to pick up food, according to a previous Post report. Some students were skipping meals because the lines were too long and they didn’t think they would make it to class on time.
Matthew Welday, a freshman studying engineering, said he typically waited up to 20 minutes in the dining hall lines before the app was released. Now that the app is out, the dining hall lines are usually between five and 10 minutes depending on how busy they are, Welday said.
“As our students quickly became familiar with our facilities, leveraged our online resources to view menus and nutritional information and settled into their individual routines, we are no longer experiencing the lines that we did the first few days of the spring semester,” Gwyn Scott, associate vice president for auxiliaries, said in an email.
OHIO EATS can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play Store. The app allows students to order and pick up food in a safe way amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a video from OU’s Culinary Services.
The app shows which dining locations are available to order from and what food is being offered. According to the same Culinary Services video, all meal options include specific dietary and food allergy information so students know what is in each meal item before it is selected.
OHIO EATS MEALS, which is only available to those with a meal plan, can be used to pick up meals that are prepared fresh and then available for pickup at a specific location. This option can be used at Front Room Cafe, Boyd Market and Shively Grab N’ Go, according to OU’s website.
The OHIO EATS program only accepts flex points, Bobcat Cash and all major credit cards. Food items from OHIO EATS can come from West 82 Food Court, Front Room Cafe, Nelson Market, Boyd Market and Boyd Market’s Smooth Moves, according to OU’s website.
“Another advantage of using the OHIO EATS app includes the option to select from over 150 grocery items all available for pick up at one of our campus markets,” according to the Culinary Services video. “There is a market located conveniently on each green.”
Welday mainly uses the OHIO EATS app to view how many remaining meal swipes he has. Although Welday does not use the app to order food, he said the app is working pretty well.
