In addition to improving communication between friends, family and associates, technology also has managed to improve relations between students and their favorite local restaurants.
This generation relies heavily on technology — even when it comes to ordering food, said Kevin Germain, a telecommunication, information studies and media junior.
“I don’t like to talk to people on the phone that I don’t know,” Germain said. “Even though it’s just to order food, it can be a process. A lot of times when you call and order the person might not get your order right. You don’t have to worry about that when you order online.”
After using Campusfood.com for a late-night order from Cottage Inn Pizza for the first time last weekend, Germain said he doubts he’ll order food over the phone any time soon.
“It was really easy to order, and they delivered (the pizza) faster than they said they were going to,” he said.
Of course — technology-savvy students such as Germain who prefer the Internet to the telephone wouldn’t have the option to order food online at Campusfood.com if it weren’t for Michael Saunders.
Eleven years and one tuna sandwich ago, Saunders found a way to bring technology and food together for the common good of college students everywhere.
After repeatedly getting a busy signal and being put on hold while attempting to order a tuna sandwich from one of his favorite restaurants, Saunders decided to push the status quo.
Knowing he was not the only hungry student ever to be denied delivery based on a busy phone line, Saunders said he used his computer skills to create a Web site that would make ordering easier and more efficient; thus, Campusfood.com was born.
There usually are a couple hundred orders placed through the web site in East Lansing every night, Saunders said.
Since the site was launched in 1997, Saunders said features such as text ordering and Facebook.com games were added to provide incentives to customers and make the ordering process more effective.
Food Friendzy, a Facebook application, took Facebook users by storm after it was launched in January as a trial run.
Saunders said the feedback he received after first launching Food Friendzy played an important role on the second version, which debuted this fall.
While communicative sciences and disorders freshman Kellie Voss has never played the Food Friendzy application, she said she is an advocate of incorporating technology into the ordering process since she shares Germain’s negative feelings about ordering food over the telephone.
“A lot of people don’t like to talk on the phone because it can be awkward and embarrassing,” Voss said.
“Ordering a bunch of cookies from Insomnia (Cookies) at 3 a.m. can be kind of embarrassing. I would rather just do it online.”
GoGreenmenus.com is another service that allows students to order food from their favorite East Lansing restaurants without ever leaving the computer chair.
In addition to placing orders on the Web site, GoGreenmenus.com also features deals and specials happening at East Lansing restaurants.
“We’re looking out for the students to get them the best deals and hook them up as much as possible,” said Matt Weitzman, one of three managing partners of GoGreenmenus.com.
Weitzman said he and his partners will be relaunching the site within the next month to provide students with better service and more deals.
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While Weitzman said he doesn’t mind ordering food over the phone, the service that GoGreenmenus.com provides is an easier and more time efficient way to order.
“You’re at your dorm, it’s a rainy day, you’re hungry — you want food and you’re annoyed with dealing with people on the phone because they can’t hear you or the restaurant is busy,” he said.
“Ordering online is just faster and easier.”
