VCU Dine strikes again

Lauren Prattis, Contributing Writer

A new school year means new friends, new classes and a new screw-up from VCU Dine. 

This semester, VCU Dine is using Grubhub, a mobile food-ordering app, in combination with physical kiosks at all of the school’s dining locations. 

As I stood in a 45-minute line for the third time in a week, I began to wonder why VCU would make such an abrupt change to the system that was working perfectly fine before. 

At the end of last semester, some of VCU’s more popular dining locations — Chick-fil-A and Einstein Bros. Bagels — started to allow Grubhub orders and, from what I recall, it was a complete nightmare. At peak hours, Einsteins had to shut down in-person orders to accommodate the overwhelming number of online orders. 

Now, in-person ordering is not even an option. Every student, regardless of whether they are on a meal plan or not, is forced to use either the kiosks or the app, leaving both customers and workers too frustrated to even step foot into the warzone the VCU Student Commons has become.  

Chick-fil-A is arguably the most popular dining location on campus, and where I have experienced the most issues with the new way of ordering. There is a perpetually long line of people waiting to use the kiosks — I have stood in line for almost 15 minutes to just order my food. 

Once you approach the kiosk, you have to go through the time-consuming process of entering your phone number and name to be sent a verification number, which will need to also be entered back into the kiosk to order. It is extremely time-consuming and can be flustering, especially if there is a long line of people waiting behind you. 

To place an order, you can use a credit card or Apple Pay, but those with a dining plan are forced to use their VCU ID. Previously, students could use the GET Mobile app with a personalized QR code to swipe instead. I know personally, as an off-campus student, I do not carry my VCU ID with me at all times. It is just one small issue, but it is also one extra step for a student on the go. 

Before placing an order on the kiosk, the screen shows an estimated wait time as well as how many people are in front of you. When the order is finally placed, you receive a text message from Grubhub with your order number and its status. 

The constant updates on orders is a good idea but just like the estimated wait times on the kiosks, it is never accurate. At Einstein Bros. Bagels, the staff will mark the orders as complete on the TV screens, and students will get a text message their order is ready when in reality, it hasn’t been made yet. 

The confusion stems from half of the orders coming from the kiosks and half of them from the app, making it more difficult than it needs to be for a student wanting to grab a bite to eat in between classes. 

During my time at VCU, I have figured out just about how long each dining location takes to complete an order. If I had an hour in between two classes, I used to be able to go to any dining location, place an in-person order and have my food within 20 minutes with enough time to eat. Now this is almost impossible to do without being late to class or having to take my food with me — which is both extremely disruptive and inconvenient. 

The Grubhub app seems like it would be both fast and convenient, but in reality, you are met with wait times just as long as those ordering in person at the kiosks are. Most dining locations now have TV screens that track the status and progress of the orders, but just like the kiosk screens and the text messages, they are inaccurate.

Once you receive a text saying your order is ready, you must use the app to scan a QR code on the restaurant’s signs to “confirm your order.” Again, it seems like a good idea, but depending on how busy it is at the restaurant when your order was placed, your food may not be ready — once again proving the wait times to be misleading. 

On top of inaccurate wait times, the lack of immediate communication with an on-site dining staff member means not accurately being able to know which items are in and out of stock and can lead to orders with incorrect ingredients.

One of the biggest changes from VCU Dine is that Pod Market no longer offers a self-service option. 

On days when the lines were a bit too long to be able to get a full meal between classes, students could stop at Pod Market to pick out a snack or two and quickly check themselves out. Now, all orders are processed through a cashier.

The longer lines are not the fault of the workers but are created due to the fact there are only one or two people working at a time. 

VCU Dine needs to revise their entire system. Most universities in the United States — for example, the University of Virginia and the University of Tennessee Knoxville — have started to transition to mobile ID cards with a few exceptions.  

The easiest solution to VCU Dine’s problem would be to either require every student to get the app, or scrap the Grubhub idea entirely and have people order solely via the kiosks. Having both is confusing and overwhelming for everyone involved. 

If VCU Dine ever fully transitions to an entirely mobile ordering system at all dining locations — with someone available to take an in-person order if needed — it could be a successful change. As it stands now, the new system has the right idea but the wrong execution.