Food Services’ operations are founded on three pillars: customers, convenience and choice. Along with the opening of the new dining area in the Student Life Centre (SLC) Fall Term 2018, Food Services’ embarked on a 24 month journey of developing a mobile ordering system. The goal of this system was to offer customers an innovative and quick way to beat the long lines that can form at popular units, while still offering the choices they are used to. In the short term, the App also looked to minimize the size of queuing lines within the tight space created by the ongoing construction of the SLC expansion, while still making everyone feel welcome and dine at these locations. From the inception of this project in May 2018, Food Services has taken persons of all abilities into consideration – from the heights of counters to the way menu boards are designed. With the busy SLC and ongoing construction limiting the walking space and dining spaces, the project team knew the service counter would need to be situated in a less congested area and easily identifiable. One large pillar was used as signage dedicated to alerting customers on the location of the pick-up counter. The App itself was also configured with accessibility in mind – when a mobile device is adjusted to its accessibility settings, the app will adjust accordingly, as well as being compatible with external accessibility application overlays. The Universal Design approach was achievable only through the commitment of all stakeholders understanding the value of building something inclusively from the beginning. From going through the Request For Proposal process to launching the app, Information Systems and Technology, Finance, University Records, WatCard and Legal and Immigration Services departments worked through the project with an accessibility lens, understanding that it would cost additional time and resources if accessibility were added in afterwards.
The Mobile Ordering App launched in September 2019 servicing the Brubakers establishment in the SLC, which includes Pizza Pizza, Sharwarma Hub, Pita Pit, Quesada and Subway. Since its debut in Fall Term 2019, they have seen the numbers grow to over 100 orders per day. They are looking forward to the completion of the SLC expansion so the remaining two units can be included in the App’s menus, Teriyaki Experience and Chef & the Farmer Smokehouse Grill. There is also a future expansion to other large Food Services outlets in other parts of campus.
