It happens to all of us. We need that morning cup of coffee or a sandwich during lunch hour. But long lines can be discouraging, especially during the start of the semester.
“I just waited 15 minutes for my drink at Coffee Bean.” Senior Joshua Esqueda said; he said he is feeling the impact of a crowded campus during this first week of school.
A new app on campus at Cal State Campus could eliminate these infamous wait times in campus dining.
The Tapingo app allows students at Cal State Long Beach to order certain food and drink items via an Iphone or Android. The lively yellow and orange-colored app became ready for use for campus restaurants starting Monday, and so far, The Nugget, Nugget Express and Outpost Grill are available to take Tapingo orders.
Tapingo begins by asking its users to select a campus and enter their student ID number. Users are then able to save a preferred form of payment to make all future orders faster. A list of restaurants will appear according to your current location. And if students use their CSULB ID card as payment, the tax charge on orders is removed from the total.
“Everyone in our office has used it, and it’s great,” Betty Geddis, textbook buyer for the 49er bookstore said. “If you have short breaks and don’t have time to wait in line, this makes it a lot easier.”
Marketing and Communications Director for the 49er shops Kierstin Stickney says, “Coming soon, we’ll have Beach Walk, George’s Greek Cafe and both Starbucks locations.”
“We worked with Tapingo to decide which restaurants would be the best, and we’re trying to do it for all of them, but obviously The Nugget and the Outpost have the longest waits and the most amount of people there. It was important to get those implemented first so that students weren’t waiting in line.
There hasn’t been feedback on any student experiences thus far Stickney said, since Monday was the first official day for the participating restaurants on campus.
Psychology major Nancy Armero has yet to download the app, but said, “I would use it, yeah, I mean it sounds convenient if your order is going to be ready when you walk in.”
Armero also presented an idea for the app to attract students. “Maybe if they offered more incentives too, like some apps will offer you extra deals when you use their apps.”
Stickney, along with representatives from Tapingo, will have a table set up outside the Outpost Grill this Thursday the 28.
“We’re trying to get the word out to students,” Stickney said. “We’ll be showing students how to download the app and how to use it.”
Beach Walk and George’s Greek Café will be available to take Tapingo orders in October, and both Starbucks locations will be live in mid-September.