It’s just before noon on a Thursday in September, and Zach Rider ’28 has just picked up his lunch order at the Westover Room in Drysdale Student Center.
It was a speedy transaction for Rider, a Houston native who moved to Central Virginia about five years ago, because he’d used the new mobile ordering app launched in August by University of Lynchburg Dining Services.
Using the Transact Mobile Ordering app, available for free via the Apple and Google Play stores, Lynchburg students, faculty, and staff can now place food orders remotely and then drop by the Westover Room or The Daiki Box — also located in Drysdale — for quick and easy pickup.
The mobile app works with credit cards, reloadable Hornet Bucks, or the Dining Dollars that are associated with the University’s unlimited meal plans.
Drew Bray, operations manager for dining services, said there’s been a “gradual uptick” in use since the app went live. “Initially, it took a while for students to download the app,” he said, adding that dining services’ social marketing team “has done a great job promoting it through all of our social media platforms.”
Rider, who has been using mobile ordering apps for most of his life, was glad to see Lynchburg embrace the technology. “I was really excited because … even if I’m just putting in the order and then immediately walking over, it saves me a couple of minutes,” he said.
“It’s just super convenient. … It’s a really nice feature. It’s always nice to have more options for stuff like this.”
Tracy McCray, Westover manager, said both staff and students have embraced the new mobile ordering platform. “The students are really engaged in it, but the staff are taking advantage of it because they have [a] 30-minute lunch,” McCray said. “So, they’ll order it before they get over here and then take it to go. It really helps with them.”
McCray also hopes to offer delivery sometime soon. “To [have] mobile ordering and then delivery, that would be a win-win,” she said.
