By Mariah Allison
The new up-and-coming mobile way to order and pick-up food on campus is finally here. The Bite+ app launched Oct. 1 by the Sodexo team. Students now can use their phone to order and pay for meals ahead of time and pick them up on campus.
Bite+ allows a no-contact method for ordering and paying for meals, perfect for keeping everyone safe during the pandemic. “Especially with COVID going on, we really needed to push with this,” Sodexo marketing manager Megan Briegel said.
Sodexo worked over the summer on the menus and programming to customize to Bellarmine, including menus and meal plans. Students can sign into the app to manage their meal plan and check their balance. Instead of logging into One Bellarmine, the app is an easier method to see your flex and meal swipes.
In addition to using the meal plan, there is also a new method of payment offered in the app called Bite pay. Students can load money into the app and pay directly with their phone. It’s a no-contact method that fits the modern method of paying.
“We hope that it will become a whole campus initiative and make ordering food a lot easier,” SGA Dining Services committee chair Katrina Powell said.
Another feature the app offers is customized dining hall menus. Users can filter recipes to cater to their diet, such as vegan and vegetarian options. The app includes the nutritional facts for each food option which can help someone looking for dietary intake or for those with food restrictions.
It can be used anywhere on campus except UDH. Catie’s, Palio and everything in Ogle is on that app, Bellarmine’s new Sodexo general manager Michael Baux said. “Students are using it, so we are very excited to roll that out.”
Bite+ is not limited to Bellarmine’s campus. The app uses a geolocate feature that will notify when a campus uses Bite+. If a student were to visit a friend on another campus, they can still use the app to mobile order from restaurants that campus offers.
Briegel noticed one issue since the launch of the new app. Students were using the old Bite app and not the Bite for Universities app. “[The new app has] the same ‘Bite’ logo with an orange ‘U’ on it,” Briegel said.
Students should double-check they are downloading the Bite for Universities app and not Bite by Sodexo. The app is available in the App Store and Google Play.