鶹ý

Keeping the Campus Fed

News
Woman wearing face covering holds food as she steps into electric cart.
Julianna Chavez prepares to deliver an order from the CoHo. (Lauren Woods/鶹ý)

Quick Summary

  • The Coffee House is open for delivery on campus, via GrubHub, and takeout
  • 2 dining commons have indoor seating for residential meal plan holders, and Scrubs Café has new menu items
  • The ASUCD Pantry is distributing Student Dining Boxes this month
  • With coronavirus precautions limiting workers in indoor spaces, workers and volunteers are doing extra duty

Food options on campus are expanding, both for quick bites to eat and for people experiencing food insecurity.

At the Coffee House, student employees have adapted to a new way of serving customers: on-campus deliveries ordered through GrubHub app. Walk-in customers also are welcome, but there is no indoor dining. Order your takeout at a register, then wait in the dining room (which has been emptied of tables and chairs) while staying at least 6 feet away from other customers.

“I’ve never done deliveries before,” said Julianna Chavez, a senior majoring in neurobiology, physiology and behavior. “It’s kind of fun. ... I get to see different parts of campus I haven’t seen in a while, like visiting the dorms, which I haven’t seen since my first year.”

She said burritos and pho are popular orders coming in from residence halls, on-campus apartments, offices and lab buildings.

Not only does she deliver, Chavez also helps oversee the preparation of the orders. When they're ready, she takes off in one of the CoHo’s electric Polaris GEM cars. She said it’s been smooth sailing getting around the mostly quiet campus, because there are few bicycles or pedestrians competing for space.

Deliveries are contact-free: She leaves the food at the door, then calls the customer to advise that their order has arrived. She sanitizes her hands often and even leaves sanitizer wipes with the food.

Swirlz inside the CoHo.
Swirlz is among the areas of the Coffee House that are open and serving customers. (Gregory Urquiaga/鶹ý)

Inside the CoHo, in order to maintain physical distancing, there are fewer employees at each station, which can mean a higher workload when things are busy.

“It’s a challenge when we get orders back to back,” she said. Still, the staff is keeping up with both walk-in and app-based customers.

Chavez previously worked as a supervisor at the Coffee House satellite operations, the CoHo South Café and BioBrew, which are both closed.

“This new delivery position offered me a new job and allowed me to still earn money during this pandemic,” she said.

USING GRUBHUB

  • Download the app from the or and create a GrubHub account.
  • Log in to your account and click  “My GrubHub” on the bottom banner of the app.
  • Open the settings by clicking the gear icon in upper left corner.
  • Select “Campus Dining.”
  • Search for 鶹ý and enter your information.
  • You only need to do the above steps once, when you are first setting up your account. After that, when you open the app, you can toggle between on campus and off campus at the top of the screen.

More food options on campus

Burger with bacon and a side of french fries.
The Scrubs Burger — which includes a half-pound patty, bacon, dijon aioli and cheese — is now available at Scrubs Café. (Jeremiah Noel/鶹ý)

The Segundo and Tercero dining commons, which had been serving take-out meals only, reopened Monday (Oct. 19) for indoor dining. Only students with residential meal plans are allowed to eat inside, and, under public health guidelines, capacity is limited to 100 students at a time.

, also operated by Student Housing and Dining Services, last week added several items to its menu, which is to-go only. They include the Scrubs Burger, a half-pound Harris Ranch patty with cheese, bacon, Dijon aioli and arugula on a toasted brioche bun; Nashville Chicken Sandwich; and Beyond Burger.

New Pantry programs

Two men hold box of food
Pantry director Ryan Choi, left, a senior majoring in psychology, and Paul Jennings, vice president of Daylight Foods, display a Student Dining Box. (Courtesy)