Engaged staff at Rochester are pushing some of the limits of the Grubhub platform, using the system in unique ways beyond just mobile ordering. This healthy partnership between campus and vendor has led to a cooperative pushing of boundaries and valuable problem solving both before and after a global pandemic.

Bridgewater State University was one of the first institutions in the northeast region to deploy autonomous robot delivery from Starship Technologies, offering students and faculty a valuable dining alternative. Now, the university is plotting to expand its fleet of delivery robots following early successes on campus.

Integrated campus payment, ID and commerce solutions provider, Transact, has revealed the winners of its Transact 360 Distinction Awards. Announced live during a virtual Transact 360 Annual Users Conference, the annual awards honor those institutions that display a passion for leveraging technology to improve the campus and student experiences.

The University of California at Davis has revealed a spring break grant program that will reward students who stay on campus during spring break week with $75 gift cards. This time last year, spring break across the country was marked by sharp spikes in COVID-19 cases, with some institutions doing away with the mid-semester hiatus altogether.

Rice University has brought back its Guest Meal Swipe Donation Program after halting the initiative during the Fall 2020 semester. The meal swipe donation program was designed to help address food insecurity for Rice students by enabling on-campus undergrads on 20 meals-per-week plans to donate any unused meal swipes to off-campus peers.

Food service provider Chartwells Higher Ed is experimenting with a new approach to on-campus dining with virtual or delivery-only kitchens that the company calls “ghost kitchens.” Despite the virtual or delivery only model being implemented prior to the pandemic, the new normal has more universities than ever before exploring the ghost kitchen formula.

Dining facilities on the Homewood and Peabody Institute campuses of Johns Hopkins University will move to a self-op dining model beginning next year. The move to self operation is expected to provide the university with greater flexibility and oversight of its campus dining experience.

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette has launched a new reusable to-go container program with OZZI. Coordinated by the university’s Office of Sustainability and Campus Dining Services, the “Good to Geaux” program has replaced disposable plastic containers across campus dining.