Spoon University has teamed up with GrubHub, an online restaurant ordering and delivery service, to gather data regarding the habits of orders placed at college campuses. University of Illinois ranked in the top 15 college campuses that have the highest percentage of late night orders, including orders that are placed between 10 p.m and 2 a.m, which accounted for 17% of all the orders placed on the U of I campus.
Biggest Late-Night Eaters
Campuses with the highest percentage of orders placed between 10p – 2 a, locally
- Syracuse University
- Michigan State University
- University of Connecticut
- Ithaca College
- The Ohio State University
- Cornell University
- Tufts University
- Le Moyne College
- Oswego State University
- University at Albany
- Georgia Tech University
- Skidmore College
- Spelman College
- University of Illinois
- Emory University
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With late night fraternity parties and campus bars that stay open until 2 a.m, it is no surprise that U of I holds this late night eating title. What may surprise you though is that 40% of all available menu items offered on campus feature meat, which is ranked #12 in the country.
Best Campuses for Meat Eaters
Campuses with the most meat menu options.
- The College of New Jersey
- West Chester University
- Saint Joseph’s University
- University of Central Florida
- Illinois State University
- Boise State University
- Temple University
- Hofstra University
- Edgewood University
- Trinity College
- Tufts University
- University of Illinois – 40% of available menu items feature meat.
- Monmouth University
- University of Missouri
- University of Hartford
Though this might sound crazy, if you look at the most-ordered menu items nationally, you’ll see that bunch of U of I’s most popular late night diners feature those same exact items on their menus.
Photo by Kristen Yang
To begin, sesame chicken is 88% more commonly ordered by college diners than non-college diners and sweet and sour chicken is 34% more likely to be ordered by college diners than non-college diners. These items sound all too familiar to orders given at Chopstix, U of I’s beloved late night Chinese restaurant.
When it comes to Italian food, chicken parmesan proved to be 36% more commonly ordered by college diners than non-college diners and calzones are a whopping 150% more commonly ordered by college diners than non-college diners. Of course, traditional calzones are just warm gooey cheese inside a toasty pizza-like crust, but U of I’s late-night Italian diner, DP Dough, doesn’t fail to add some meat by offering calzones with bacon, ham, chicken, pepPeroni, sausage, turkey, ground beef and even meatballs.
The dishes more ordered by college diners than non-college diners:
- Cookie – 179% more commonly ordered by college diners than non-college diners
- Calzone – 150% more commonly ordered by college diners than non-college diners
- Chicken with Broccoli – 114% more commonly ordered by college diners than non-college diners
- General Tso’s Chicken – 92% more commonly ordered by college diners than non-college diners
- Sesame Chicken – 88% more commonly ordered by college diners than non-college diners
- Dumplings – 62% more commonly ordered by college diners than non-college diners
- Latte – 57% more commonly ordered by college diners than non-college diners
- Wings – 56% more commonly ordered by college diners than non-college diners
- Chicken Parm – 36% more commonly ordered by college diners than non-college diners
- Sweet and Sour Chicken – 34% more commonly ordered by college diners than non-college diners
Yet, nothing beats a good ol’ dozen of American wings, which account of 7% of orders by college students and are 56% more likely to be ordered by college diners than non-college diners. If you hear the word “wings” and don’t think of Champaign’s Wingin Out do you even go to U of I? Located directly across from the bar Red Lion, Wingin Out is the perfect place to munch on some meaty wings after a long night out.
After looking at popular late night restaurants on the campus and the menu items available there, it is increasingly clear that meat really is a huge section of U of I’s food pyramid, particularly after a late-night of parties and bars. Eat on, Illini.
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