Lafayette College’s dining mobile ordering system is planned to be replaced with the food delivery GrubHub app for the fall of 2025.
“The Grubhub app will be integrated with all dining locations and be the new platform for placing mobile orders starting this fall,” Tony Williams, the resident district manager of dining, wrote in an email. “In addition, Pard dollars can be used at local establishments that accept Grubhub.”
Williams explained that the changes are in response to feedback and “stability issues” encountered with Transact Mobile Order, which is the current mobile ordering system used by students.
“It’s going to be changing the whole ordering system app,” said Selina Zhu ‘27, the chair of Student Government’s dining committee.
“There are a lot of problems regarding the current system, like ordering time and not allowing students to order,” Zhu added. “Many students dislike the current system due to its inability to give a time estimate for when their order will be ready.”
Students can currently use Transact Mobile at five dining options on campus, including locations that offer coffee, smoothies and grab-and-go hot and cold foods. Over a dozen local restaurants also partner with the college to accept Pard Dollars.
According to Zhu, dining services have not yet decided how many Pard Dollars students will be getting per semester. Currently, students with a 20 or 14-meals-per-week plan receive 50 Pard Dollars per semester.
Many colleges have been partnering with Grubhub to serve their students. According to the Grubhub website, Grubhub now works with around 360 universities and serves over 4.5 million students.
Students expressed mostly positive feelings about the ordering changes.
“I get DoorDash often, but have to spend my own money on that,” Rosetta Serrano ’27 said. “I think this will be helpful, especially since the Pard Dollars will be able to go to places that can deliver food.”
Rachele Mazzella-Di-Bosco ’27 echoed this sentiment.
“I think, honestly, partnering with Grubhub is really good,” she said. “I want more diversity in food options. I can’t have gluten, so it’d be pretty nice to just have other places.”
“That actually sounds really great,” Anaya Brown ’28 said of the Grubhub partnership. Brown said that she would “definitely” be using the feature once it is unveiled.
Williams wrote that Dining and Business Services are in the early stages of constructing the app in collaboration with Grubhub and plan to provide updates over the summer and when students return in August.
Zhu encouraged anyone interested in learning more about the changes to attend Student Government’s bi-weekly dining ad hoc committee meetings that are open to the public. Meetings are on Wednesday at 2:45 p.m. in Gilbert’s Cafe.
Makenna McCall ’27 contributed reporting.