Ever craved a coffee but couldn’t be bothered to leave your spot at the library for one? Well thanks to a new food delivery service at Carleton this is no longer a problem.
uHungry! is an on-campus food delivery system that delivers coffee and snacks to students across campus for a small fee. Students stuck studying in the library can now request what they want to eat on the uHungry! website and have it delivered right to their seat, according to company co-founder Adi Khader.
This service was created by two recent Carleton engineering grads, Moataz Soliman and Khader, who both felt they spent too much of their time at Carleton waiting in line for food.
“Studying for midterms and finals was very stressful and having to get up constantly to get food felt like it was precious time being wasted,” said Khader. “When we studied as a group, one person often went and ordered for everyone. It worked well and so we thought why not expand this into something bigger?”
Their website was launched in November and had a good start, receiving numerous users visiting the site in its first few days, according to Khader.
“The idea is new so we are growing and the response has been wonderful,” Khader said. “We really believe in this system and we trust that it will be a huge success with our users’ support.”
The service is currently exclusive to those studying on Carleton’s campus but Khader and Soliman plan to expand the system to other schools in Ottawa in the future. They also have begun developing the iPhone and Android applications for the site and are planning to launch them soon.
As of now, the food is being delivered by Khader and Soliman themselves, along with a few other employees. The goal is to expand and have Carleton students deliver the food, giving them the opportunity to work while on campus, said Khader.
Carleton’s food provider, Aramark, has strict rules around who can sell food on campus, but Khader said it doesn’t affect the uHungry! service.
The system simply delivers food bought on campus, so there is no conflict with Carleton’s Dining Services.
David Van Dyk, district manager of Carleton University Dining Services, said he was unaware of the new service but isn’t sure it will catch on.
“We have tried similar delivery programs in the past that haven’t been successful,” he said.
