It seems like college dining is a universally bad experience — the same several options like cold pizza, dry chicken, or bland pasta are served everyday. Off-campus dining, such as food delivery, has always been a go-to for students tired of their dining hall. And thanks to GrubHub Campus Dining, using your meal plan for delivery is getting even easier. In the 2023-2024 academic year, GrubHub saw its most successful year with its Campus Dining program yet. Now, the delivery service is partnering with over 60 university campuses for the 2024-2025 academic year to bring great food and advanced services.
What is GrubHub Campus Dining?
GrubHub Campus Dining allows for students to use their meal plan on mobile ordering, off-campus restaurants, delivery, self-service pickup kiosks, and automated convenience stores. Within the 2023-2024 year, GrubHub Campus Dining delivery increased by 35% from the previous academic year through the connecting GrubHub+ Student program.
Now for the upcoming school year, the program is expanding into even more college campuses, including Howard University, the University of Tampa, and Tulane University, bringing a wide variety of food options.
Will robots be delivering food on my campus?
Though GrubHub Campus Dining is a convenient way to dine on-and-off campus, the service became popular because of its robot delivery service. Robot delivery companies like Cartken, Kiwibot, and Starship provide a cost-effective and fast way of delivering food on a college campus. They provide flexibility in delivery coverage and a contact-free experience to keep students safe — an extremely useful feature during the pandemic. Now, they are fun easter-egg-sightings on college campuses to post about as they run around delivering burrito bowls, chicken nuggets, and pizzas.
What else is included in the GrubHub Campus Dining program?
The robot delivery service isn’t the only technology-advanced addition to expect with the GrubHub Campus Dining.
With the upcoming school year, Lindenwood University, Ursinus College, and the University of Virginia will be the first out of GrubHub’s partnered universities to utilize Amazon’s Just Walk Out Technology. The Just Walk Out Technology is implemented in partnering campus convenience stores to allow buyers to walkout and skip the cash registers as the technology will identify the items being bought and deduct it from their selected GrubHub payment option like a meal plan or debit/credit card.
There’s also the ReusePass, which allows students the option to package their to-go order from on-campus dining options in a reusable container that is tracked-and-traced through Topanga.io technology. The technology allows the student to know what container they have and when it needs to be returned. This service can only be found at certain partnering institutions such as Boston University, Colorado State University, and The Ohio State University. To know if your college has this zero-waste option available, students can check via the GrubHub app under the checkout tab when ordering.
How can I get GrubHub+ Student?
To sign up for GrubHub+ Student or see if this service is available at your college campus, download the GrubHub app, click on Account, select Campus Dining, and input your student credentials such as your college, class year, and student ID to link your student account to your GrubHub account. Now, you’ve unlocked free delivery, student deals, and access to a broader selection of food options and services via your meal plan.