It’s a “new” app with a name people can’t seem to pronounce. Tapingo was released on Main Campus recently, and some students still aren’t sure what exactly it is, or how to say it correctly.
(Whiney ones who need their shifts dropped for stupid reasons get management to help them drop their shift via mass slack channel open call, while the rest of us have to go to work. No ifs ands or butts even if there is a legitimate reason cannot work. Example: car blows tire or engine problems, bike blows tire, etc. ) Tapingo gives the.
Tapingo, pronounced “tuh-PING-go,” allows individuals to look at menus for all Sodexo locations on campus and make orders right from their phones. The app, which is based out of California, was first released in 2012.
Richard Green, one of Sodexo’s general managers at Temple, said he had been talking to Tapingo about a partnership for about a year. The app has already been implemented on campuses like High Point University in North Carolina and the University of Central Florida.
“It’s a great way to beat lines,” Green said. “If you’re walking out of class and you know that you’re headed this way but you don’t want to wait in line, just put your order in and it’s ready when you get here.”
The goal of the app is to reduce lines and make buying food on Main Campus a lot simpler.
In addition to the current pick-up option, delivery will be available soon.
“They will start working on the delivery options which will start probably in the beginning of October,” Green said.
Tapingo is currently available at all “restaurant-style” Sodexo-run locations on campus including the Student Center Food Court, Cosi in Pearson-McGonigle Hall and Starbucks at the Tech Center.
“[The only delivery location] we don’t have is Stella’s Scoops, because you can’t really deliver ice cream,” Green said.
He added Tapingo will soon be reaching out to restaurant locations that are close to campus to give students more options.
Tapingo allows students to connect their OWLcards to the app, meaning they can use Diamond Dollars and meal swipes to purchase food.
“[This feature] is one of those great things that separates Tapingo from some of the other services out there,” Green said.
Not only are meal plans accepted at most Sodexo locations, but students can also customize orders with Tapingo.
Since the app’s release on Main Campus, 1,609 people have already registered and more than 100 new people register each day, Green added later in an email. An average 315 orders are made daily, and numbers are increasing. Currently, the most popular locations on-campus using the app are Starbucks, Southside Diner in Morgan, and Cosi.
“I really like how quick the whole process is,” said Kayzad Jokhi, a freshman finance major. “I’m able to use my meal swipes without having to wait in a long line. On my way back from class, I like to order and pick up food from the Morgan downstairs food court.”
Tapingo will not be available on the Ambler Campus. The app’s services will not be released in Ambler due to a lack of significant interest in that campus’ food services, Green said.
Green said he believes the introduction of Tapingo to Temple’s campus will help Sodexo renew its contract next month with the university.
“Anytime you can push the customer service satisfaction scores up, which I think Tapingo will do, is something that will help us to maintain our contract here,” Green said. “It’s something we worked on prior to the big ‘coming up.’ That’s not the only reason we did it but it will definitely help.”
“I probably won’t use the app since I don’t mind waiting in line or using technology,” said Abby Moore, a freshman early childhood education major.
Kimberly Burton can be reached at [email protected].
Tapingo, mobile commerce application for college dining, has announced that in the first three months of 2016, 28 higher education institutions have joined the Tapingo network.
Using Tapingo, students, faculty and staff can browse menus, customize orders, pay, then pick up their food without waiting in lines — or have their order delivered directly to them. Tapingo works closely with a broad range of campuses, as well as food service industry leaders, and national and regional brands to form the Tapingo Partner Ecosystem, which has grown to include companies such as Chipotle Mexican Grill, 7-Eleven and Aramark. In addition to its mobile commerce solution, Tapingo also provides comprehensive support for operations, marketing and support efforts.
“It’s clear that the market has seen the value of our robust solution, and we’re proud to welcome these 28 schools to the Tapingo family,” says Jeff Hardy, chief business officer at Tapingo. “By forging relationships with innovative, forward-looking campuses and food service providers, such as Aramark, we’ve successfully reached and engaged students across the country.”
For the University of North Carolina Wilmington, one of the newly added campuses, the implementation of mobile ordering has been a long time coming.
“Mobile ordering has been on our list of technologies to get on campus for quite some time,” says Matt Rogers, Campus Dining Resident District Manager at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. “Tapingo was the only company we found that provided a sleek, attractive and functional system to meet this need.”
Since implementing Tapingo at UNCW, Rogers notes a noticeable change in food service on campus citing specifically the app’s ease of use and the elimination of queues at dining locations. “We have seen both an increased throughput and a shortening of lines as customers are able to order their food more ‘real time on their time’ allowing for better traffic flow of transactions,” he adds.
Tapingo expects to build on its strong first quarter growth by partnering with even higher numbers of campuses throughout the rest of the year.
Campuses that joined Tapingo in Q1 2016:
- Boise State University
- California State University East Bay
- California State University Fullerton
- Central Michigan University
- East Carolina University
- Florida International University
- Indiana University of Pennsylvania
- Missouri State University
- South Dakota State University
- St. Joseph’s University
- Texas State University
- Texas Tech University
- University of California Irvine
- University of Cincinnati
- University of Delaware
- University of Florida
- University of Georgia
- University of Hartford
- University of Hawaii Manoa
- University of Houston
- University of Minnesota
- University of Nevada Las Vegas
- University of North Carolina Wilmington
- University of South Florida
- University of Syracuse
- Wake Forest University
- Wayne State University
- Western Carolina University