In an effort to encourage students, faculty and staff to eat at campus dining facilities, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., has initiated a loyalty program that could provide users free meals.

Sodexo, the school’s food service provider, piloted the program at one of the school’s eateries over the summer and installed the iPad-based system in all the dining halls for the fall quarter.

“We didn’t have a true loyalty program,” said a Sodexo spokesperson. “We used the same thing as everyone else, punch cards or buy one get one free.”

The loyalty program is run by Belly, a Chicago-based company that services businesses nationwide. It uses a scanning system to award points that can be redeemed for free meals, food or even a full catered lunch at the university’s six dining halls and some retail locations on campus.

Users create an account by downloading the program’s smart phone application or registering a swipe card with a detachable keychain card. When entering a participating location users swipe their card, keychain card or scan their smart phone at the business’ iPad. Each visit earns a specific number of points redeemable for various rewards at that location.

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