Card, mobile credential, payment and security
At the beginning of 2023, Penn State rolled out Transact Mobile Credential to students, faculty, and staff. Among mobile credential programs, this one stands out because it was rolled out simultaneously across all 24 campuses of Penn State. In partnership with Transact, the campus team faced a unique set of challenges presented by this geographically and administratively dispersed project.
The move to mobile has been on the institution’s roadmap for nearly a decade, but it was completed in a short timeframe when the work commenced.
“It started with a vision to improve security and have every part of Penn State across the Commonwealth offer a seamless digital campus experience,” says Mike Sherlock, director of information technology, Penn State Auxiliary and Business Services. “The project officially launched in early spring of 2022, with students beginning mobile provisioning in January 2023.”
We provisioned 14% of students on day one across 24 campuses and today 81% of students at Penn State have provisioned the mobile id+ card
Like most campuses transitioning to mobile, Penn State had a portion of the necessary reader infrastructure already in place. Still, in a system that supports 88,000 students on campuses throughout the state, there were a massive number of transaction points to enable.
“We started moving toward contactless, mobile-enabled readers during the pandemic,” explains Sherlock. “However, the bulk of the nearly 2,000 door, food service, vending, laundry, and off-campus program readers were replaced in the summer of 2022. We continue to upgrade readers across the Commonwealth, hoping to be mostly complete by 2025.”
Campus staff managed the coordination and installation of the reader infrastructure, while Transact assisted with IT support, marketing, and project management.
Launching midway through the academic year meant that students activating the mobile credential would opt to do so without guidance and instruction from a new student orientation process. For this to be successful, a strong marketing campaign was essential.
Transact’s engagement marketing team and Penn State’s Auxiliary and Business Services marketing and communications team worked together to develop the campaign.
According to Sherlock, Penn State saw a record-setting launch for the mobile id+ card. “We provisioned 14% of students on day one across 24 campuses,” he says. More than 25,000 individuals had activated the mobile id+ card by the close of the spring semester, and as of September 7, 2023, 81% of students at University Park and the Commonwealth Campuses of Penn State have provisioned the mobile id+ card.
As part of the longstanding roadmap, Penn State has embraced a mobile-first vision for the campus card and door access. Still, major projects like mobile id+ often require a transitional phase.
“Physical cards will remain necessary in the short-term, as access to (some) facilities and resources may still require the physical campus card until all readers are replaced,” says Sherlock. “Our goal is to use mobile as our primary method of payment and entry access before 2025.”
Deploying mobile credentials across multiple, disparate campuses creates challenges, even beyond a traditional migration.
“One of the critical challenges is the cost-sharing and logistics of replacing the current legacy card-swipe technologies with the updated reader hardware across University Park and all Commonwealth Campuses,” says Sherlock.
He advises other campuses embarking on this journey to remain flexible. “Each demographic connects to an institution differently,” he concludes. “We did a good amount of research and benchmarking before our launch and learned from all the schools and institutions that have gone before us.”
From Transact’s perspective, they were happy to share their experience to help make the Penn State project a success.
"Transact leads the way in providing a smart, mobile-centric student experience with a client-focused approach and innovative technology," says Rasheed Behrooznia, SVP and GM, of Campus ID Solutions. "This commitment to client satisfaction and future-thinking sets us apart, and we are proud to work with Penn State on a shared mission to revolutionize campus life.”
To hear firsthand about Penn State’s successful rollout, register for the webinar below:
Penn State’s unparalleled mobile id+ card launch
Thursday, November 9, 1 PM EST
At the start of the fall term in 2022, the Sheridan College onecard office rolled out its new Mobile onecard. The Canadian institution serves 27,000 students across its three campuses in Ontario, so launching a project of this magnitude required careful planning and a well-orchestrated marketing effort to ensure success. CampusIDNews spoke with Aesha Brown, Sheridan’s onecard Manager to learn about the project and her advice for other campuses considering a transition to mobile credentials.
CampusIDNews: How long was mobile on the roadmap for Sheridan?
Brown: This was a 3-year long journey. We started to put together a business plan in 2020 and went to RFP later that year. We elected to stay with our current provider TouchNet and partnered with them on our mobile program. We went live with our mobile onecard for students with iOS devices on Aug 29, 2022, and then exactly one year later on Aug 29, 2023 we went live with our mobile onecard for students with Android devices. We planned this project as a phased approach.
The first few weeks in September our office usually has long lines for those wanting to obtain a plastic card, but this September we saw those lines cut in half
CampusIDNews: Can the mobile credential be used everywhere the plastic card can be used?
Brown: Yes, this was important to us because we wanted a positive student experience that mimicked the plastic onecard experience but with greater convenience. Our goal is to embed onecard into everything our students do here at Sheridan with ease.
CampusIDNews: How did the move to mobile impact your card reader infrastructure?
Brown: We overhauled our entire card reader infrastructure during this project in early 2022. Rather than perform a manual upgrade on the readers, either by doing it ourselves or shipping a batch of readers on a rotating basis back to HID, we decided to just replace all the door readers. This was decided (for a variety of reasons): long shipping times of the readers back and forth to Canada and the US; doors being left without readers for too long; and manually upgrading readers ourselves would have been impossible due to the various models of readers on campus.
Approximately 1300 new door readers were replaced by a third-party contractor across three campuses within three weeks. During testing there were challenges that occurred with the performances of a few of the door readers due to the age of the buildings and lack of wiring in some locations. We were able to resolve this by changing the wiring behind some of the walls and once that was completed, we were able to re-install the remaining door readers. Overall, the time involved to get all the readers installed and the re-wiring work done took two to three months.
CampusIDNews: What role did TouchNet play in delivering the solution to campus?
Brown: TouchNet played a vital role by providing their expertise in project planning, implementation and marketing for the mobile onecard project. TouchNet has rolled out similar projects with other institutions in the US so they already had experience. The most valuable aspect of our partnership with TouchNet is that they listened to our needs and made changes to the platform to ensure the success of this project.
CampusIDNews: How do you handle provisioning of the mobile credentials?
Brown: We provision through the TouchNet 360U mobile app. Continuous improvement from the TouchNet team has made provisioning in the app much simpler. At first there were several steps needed to provision the mobile credential, but TouchNet has streamlined the platform and our students have been very happy with the change.
CampusIDNews: How did you get buy-in from the students and the campus community?
Brown: I quickly realized that not only is this project “tech heavy” it is also a large change management project. It required many layers of effective communication to the entire Sheridan community. Our onecard touches so many areas on campus, and the project could not be done in isolation. I engaged with our marketing and communications specialists at the College and we took a pan-institutional approach to ensure our marketing campaigns and communications strategy were intentional and effective.
CampusIDNews: Walk us through the process of how a student obtains their mobile credential.
Brown: Once a student is accepted at Sheridan College, they receive a welcome email from the onecard office – usually in July for a September start date – inviting them to upload a photo. Once the photo has been approved, we send students an email with a link that provides all the information they need to obtain a mobile credential. This has worked really well as students can obtain the credential before they come to campus.
The first few weeks in September our office usually has long lines for those wanting to obtain a plastic card, but this September we saw those lines cut in half and our adoption rates for the mobile onecard increase substantially.
CampusIDNews: How about plastic cards and fees?
Brown: For now, we still offer plastic onecards at no charge for those that want one. We do not charge a fee for the mobile credential, contractually it is not allowed.
A day in the life of a typical college student involves an array of transactions, each relying on the campus credential. The student may:
In a recent article by Fred Emery, Senior Business Development Manager at TouchNet, he explains that this type of “transactional ease” requires a coordinated, integrated technology strategy between the card office, campus vendors, and the institution's student information system.
This level of transactional ease takes strategic planning and effort, and our campus card and transaction systems are central to it all
He outlines eight ways that an integrated card system streamlines operations and delivers significant benefits to the institution.
One key way is the system’s collection of actionable data.
“Connecting campus card technology to the student record system captures real-time data … that helps administrators improve student support and services,” he explains. “For example, using it to better schedule staff or optimize food preparation for peak times in the dining hall leads to improved student and guest experiences, reduced waste, and a better allocation of resources on campus.”
Improved efficiency is another key benefit.
Campus administrators are pulled in many directions and don’t have time to jump back and forth between multiple systems. An integrated campus ID system eases administrative tasks, centralizes reconciliation, and enables a single reporting source.
“Additionally, integration to the student information system can increase efficiency through automated data exchange, removing the need for many manual processes such as posting general ledger information or updating student accounts,” says Emery.
This level of transactional ease takes strategic planning and effort, and our campus card and transaction systems are central to it all.
To explore the other six benefits and consider how you can use them to promote your program to senior leadership and other on-campus entities, read Eight Advantages of an Integrated Campus ID.
Recent studies show a significant spike in anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation among college students. In the 2020-2021 academic year, more than 60% of students met the criteria for at least one mental health condition.
Webinar: Transact + Talkiatry = accessible mental health services for students
Tuesday, September 19 at 1 pm EST
A Transact-sponsored webinar will explore how its new partnership with psychiatric care provider Talkiatry is working to address the escalating mental health crisis on college campuses.
The partnership gives students access to mental health services via the Transact eAccounts app students already use for an array of campus services and transactions.
Talkiatry uses virtual care to eliminate barriers to access. Its services are covered by more than 60 health insurance plans and provided by a team of more than 300 psychiatrists specializing in treating mental health conditions including anxiety, depression, PTSD, and more.
“With so many college students struggling with everything from loneliness and low self-esteem to depression and trauma from sexual assault, it’s vital school administrators have access to the resources to help (students) stay in school and successfully manage their mental health,” says Robert Krayn, co-founder and CEO, Talkiatry.
“Improving student mental health is a topic we are passionate about at Transact,” explains Nancy Langer, CEO of Transact. “By incorporating Talkiatry’s resources into our products, we’re empowering millions of students and families with the tools needed to manage mental health effectively.”
Join Transact Campus CEO Nancy Langer and Talkiatry co-founders Robert Krayn and Georgia Gaveras on Tuesday, September 19 at 1 pm EST.
At a convenience store at Loyola University of Maryland, students are grabbing items and walking out of the store without checking out, scanning items at a POS, or seeing a cashier. Using Grubhub and Amazon’s Just Walk Out technologies, artificial intelligence, computer vision, and advanced sensors make it possible. The integration between the Grubhub app, already a fixture with Loyola students, and the Just Walk Out system is delivering a seamless and convenient solution for both students and operators.
Lyle Margerum, Director of Technical Operations, Grubhub Campus was on site at Loyola for the launch when we caught up with him to learn about this project and what it means to campuses across the country.
CampusIDNews: Thanks for taking time out from the events on campus. Can you tell me about the integration?
Grubhub: We have been talking with campus partners autonomous convenience stores for years. It is a challenging area to streamline with technology because it has always required cashiers. Just Walk Out provided an ideal the solution.
Early this summer we started doing the work with Amazon, and this week we delivered the first production orders.
Just Walk Out increases sales and brings value to students and the Loyola community. And it does it without the need to staff the location.
CampusIDNews: How does it work with Grubhub?
Grubhub: It is part of the normal Grubhub mobile ordering process. Just Walk Out appears as would any other on-campus dining location – say Chik-fil-a or a dining hall. The difference is that when you select Just Walk Out, there are no menu items to choose from within the app. They are going to choose their items when they enter the store. The user selects the payment method, and a QR code appears on the app’s screen.
The QR code is presented to the Amazon gate at the store, the light turns green, and the gate opens. Sensors and cameras determine which items are selected from the store shelves and track any unwanted items returned to a shelf. When shopping is complete, the user simply walks out the door. The transaction amount is charged to the meal plan account or selected payment method.
Before granting entry to the store, the system determines that there are sufficient funds in the campus account to enable a viable transaction. The Idea is to restrict a user with an ultra-low balance from overdrawing their account. If that does happen, the system could charge against a different tender or provide a report to the store operator to allow another collection process.
CampusIDNews: How did Loyola University of Maryland become your first partner for the new technology?
Grubhub: Loyola has been our partner since 2015, so we are leveraging a longtime partnership. They have been innovators on mobile ordering, kiosks, and other services for many years. Additionally, they have been talking with amazon and worked proactively to get this done.
Though they do have a transaction system provider, they did not want to introduce a secondary app just to support the identification of the student to the Just Walk Out system. Because the Grubhub app was already an integral part of campus life it made sense, and this integration just enhances our relationship with the student population.
CampusIDNews: Tell me about the rollout at Loyola.
Grubhub: I have been on campus this week for the launch, and it has been great. Loyola is already talking about future locations. The initial location is a convenience store operated by the campus dining provider Parkhurst. It is located in the bottom of one of the residential halls.
It offers the campus 24x7 retail availability that was not feasible in the past. Students have access to food and drinks, laundry detergent, and a range of other needed items right where they live. This increases sales and brings value to students and the Loyola community. And it does it without the need to staff the location.
CampusIDNews: What do you see for the future of Grubhub and Amazon’s Just Walk Out?
Grubhub: With our integration with Amazon in place, adding other campuses will be incrementally easier. We have ironed out kinks in the experience which will expedite both the planning and rollout process. Our second campus will launch in the next couple of weeks at Montclair University, and others are already scheduled for later in the Fall and Spring semesters.
For Grubhub, it deepens our value proposition with our partner institutions. We now cover the full range of a campus’ needs – mobile ordering, kiosks, POS, robot delivery, reusable container solutions, lockers – and now cashier-less retail.
Students at the University of Kentucky community can now use their WildCard Mobile ID on an iPhone, Apple Watch or Android device to access campus buildings, make purchases and more. Transaction system provider CBORD and access control partner HID Global worked with the campus to make the new system a reality.
Students download the Mobile ID from the App Store or Google Play using through the campus-branded CBORD GET app. Using the app they can download the mobile credential directly to their smartphone or watch.
“CBORD worked with the University of Kentucky to develop a plan to support mobile credentials throughout the WildCard program,” says Read Winkelman, Vice President, Sales, CBORD. “The university now joins many CBORD campuses already using mobile credentials successfully.”
Already, more than 100 institutions are embracing mobile credentials and this adoption will grow exponentially every year.
“We have supported NFC-based mobile credentials since 2012, and our customers process over 350,000 mobile credential transactions daily,” Winkelman adds. “With our partnership, customers see industry-leading rates of student adoption, which speaks to our ability to simplify the move for a seamless launch.”
Physical security is a key application for the university. The campus community relies on access control solutions from HID Global across campus administrative buildings, classrooms and residence halls.
“We are proud to partner with the University of Kentucky on the rollout of mobile credentials,” says Tim Nybolm, Director – End User Business Development, Higher Education, HID Global.
“Today’s student is ‘born digital’ and is looking for a convenient and exceptional user experience,” he adds. “With the use of mobile credentials, students have found a more convenient, efficient and secure way to access buildings and amenities on campus.”
Nyblom told CampusIDNews that Kentucky and many other campuses have embarked on a digital transformation journey using mobile technologies to elevate the student experience and increase security. He says, “already, more than 100 institutions are embracing mobile credentials and this adoption will grow exponentially every year.”
While student love the idea of mobile ID, some concerns always exist. What if I lose my phone? How do I get into my dorm if my battery dies?
Modern mobile ID solutions put these concerns to rest.
If a student misplaces their iPhone or Apple Watch, they can use the “Find My” app to lock and locate the device. Using Apple Wallet’s Express Mode, the mobile ID can be used without unlocking or waking the device. Even if the phone’s power is depleted, reserve power still enables the mobile ID to conduct transactions.
From a privacy perspective, a university release reassures students that Apple does not know when or where they use their Mobile ID, and transaction history is never stored on Apple servers.
Amy Surprenant, End User Business Development, HID Global, was onsite for the launch.
“Students were thrilled that they had student ID cards on their phones and no longer had to wait in a long line to get their IDs,” Surprenant says. “This mobile credential is not only convenient but provides increased security and enhances student experiences.”
For now, the university says students should still carry their physical ID cards. The new rollout is part of a phased approach, so some locations will still require a physical card.
The WildCard Mobile ID will be available to faculty and staff in the coming year.
Check out the WildCard online to learn more.
Days ago, the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) reported that a cyber breach may have compromised personal information for teachers, high school students and college students in the state from 2010 to 2020.
As reported in the department’s statement, they became aware of the ransomware attack on June 19, 2023. They took steps to secure the network and worked with third-party specialists to conduct a thorough investigation, restore systems and return to normal operations.
“An unauthorized actor(s) accessed CDHE systems between June 11 and June 19, 2023, and certain data was copied from (our) systems during this time,” says the Colorado Department of Education. “Our investigation has revealed that some of the impacted records include names and social security numbers or student identification numbers, as well as other education records.”
In 2022, 44 colleges and universities and an equal number of school districts were impacted by ransomware.
According to CBSNews.com, a CDHE spokesperson says the agency knows the source of the ransomware and confirms that it was not paid. The amount asked for was not disclosed.
Ransomware attacks in higher education are not uncommon. A study from malware research firm, Emisoft, reports that 44 colleges and universities were impacted in 2022. An equal number of school districts fell victim. In 65% of the cases, data was taken. The true numbers are likely to be higher as cyber attacks often go unreported.
Those that may have been impacted by in the Colorado breach include individuals who:
CDHE says it “is providing impacted individuals with complimentary access to credit monitoring and identity theft protection services through Experian for two years.”
Key management for contactless cards and mobile credentials is a hot topic in the higher ed campus card market. In this third segment of the HID Tech Talk series, HID's Tim Nyblom, Director of End User Business Development for Higher Education, and Nathan Cummings, Director of Sales Education for Higher Education, explore options for secure key management.
Listen in as we explore the pros and cons of owning keys, holding and securing keys internally on campus, and partnering with external key managers. The discussion will help clear up the confusion concerning this "key" security decision.
What is key management?
“Smart card and mobile credentials don’t just use a single key, they use a key set with multiple keys for multiple functions in the device,” says Cummings. “How those keys are generated, stored, used, distributed, and finally destroyed is the basis of key management.”
What does it mean to own your own keys? How do you build them, hold them, and protect them securely in a campus environment? Can you get the benefit of owning your keys but still rely on a partner to support your key management?
Click the video image at the top of this page to find out more.
Check out the HID Tech Talk Series:
Higher ed is facing a ‘demographic cliff.’ According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, starting in 2025 there will be a steep drop in traditional the college-age population. The reason? Between 2007 and 2020, the U.S. birthrate fell nearly 20%, this will likely translate to fewer students, more competition, and tightening revenues.
The new CBORD Insights™ Student Experience Survey collected data from hundreds of students and administrators at U.S. higher education institutions. A primary finding was that on- and off-campus dining revenue is a major concern as campuses prepare for this declining enrollment. Findings suggest that automation and analytics are key to addressing the issue.
“Most colleges and universities operate their foodservice as a standalone enterprise that is expected to turn a profit year after year,” said Dan Park chief executive officer of CBORD. “Dining services typically represent a significant revenue stream, and the disruption of that income has been a top concern for higher education leadership since 2020, when nearly all residential schools closed in response to COVID-19.”
Departmental leaders ranked exploring new revenue sources as their top initiative, while higher ups ranked it second only to labor-reducing automation.
Staffing shortages and predicted declining dining revenues, find administrators turning to automation to maintain service levels and preserve dining revenue. Initiatives to automate dining operations, create frictionless foodservice, and expand dining options are underway at half the institutions surveyed.
According to the study, half of the respondents have invested in automation in the last two years, and more than half expect to in the next two years. Departmental leaders ranked exploring new revenue sources as their top initiative, while higher ups ranked it second only to labor-reducing automation.
Potential new revenue streams cited include:
Still, it will not be easy. Further stressing auxiliaries, respondents expect incoming students – accustomed to remote learning – to be less likely to live and dine on campus.
“COVID-19 caused us to reevaluate some major aspects of our financial model and has led to a shift in how we think about on-campus dining,” said Mike Henderson of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. “We are seeing many opportunities to use mobile technology to collaborate with our surrounding communities to provide dining services.”
To learn more about the results of this survey and other areas covered beyond dining, click here.
So, Rich, we're just looking to understand more about the experience of working with Grover at Holy Cross as we shared.
So, if you, I know you stepped into working at Holy Cross when mobile ordering kind of was already up and running at most of the units.
So, do you want to share a little bit of history as to how things have gone and what things look like today?
Absolutely.
So, when I got here, I'd say about 80% of our transactions, if you want to call them that, were out of the residential dining location.
So, this has nothing to do with mobile ordering.
But it was too many people frequenting that one space.
There wasn't enough seating.
There was congestion.
Parents were complaining.
Students were complaining.
So, how do we get some of these folks, how do we get a better balance on campus?
How do we push them to some of the retail locations?
So, after a lot of thought, we decided we were going to change some menus around.
We were going to take a look at how we were doing mobile ordering.
We were going to make sure that we marketed that better for all the freshman students that were coming in.
And then we immediately realized that, wow, mobile ordering is starting to go up.
These students are starting to frequent the other spaces more.
We're making it easier for them to be able to get the products.
A conversation I recently had with a student was, we were talking about mobile ordering and the student's comment was funny.
He said, you've made it way too easy for us.
It's just so easy to get food and beverage any time now that you don't have to wait for it anymore.
That you can just be in a class or you can be in a locker room, you can be at your workout, you can place your order and you can just come and pick it up.
So, then what was happening was, as you know, the campus our POS system was just horrible here.
So, the campus wanted to change out the POS system and then part of that POS system they were talking to us about unlimited.
And then that's when I thought, okay, we're going to go unlimited, we're paying all this money for GrubHub.
The campus wanted to include the unlimited.
So, I gave Christy a heads up and thanks to GrubHub came back and said, well, we can do unlimited too.
So, that was great because now we didn't have to switch our students from GrubHub to another platform.
But then, you know, Christy just helped us so much with maximizing.
I really, Christy, you have so much to do with us.
Just helping us maximize the opportunities to just utilize the platform more.
So, we ended up switching one of our locations to mobile only.
We still had a cashier station off to the side just in case some of our older folks would come in.
We can still bring them up.
But a little bit more hidden.
No complaints.
We doubled the volume in that one location and the staff loves it.
So, there's no more of that.
Unfortunately, there's no more of that interaction.
I was just showing this to my wife recently that we go into Starbucks, which I always use the Starbucks app, but this time we didn't.
We go into Starbucks and I ask my wife to time it.
She's like, what are you doing?
I said, just time this whole thing.
She's like, what are you doing?
Just time.
So, we place the order, exchange our pleasantries.
They write on the cop.
They go through the whole process.
We bring the thing up on our car.
They scan it.
Two minutes.
Okay, two minutes.
So, that's two minutes of production that was lost.
So, our students are the cashiers.
Let those students actually go on their phone.
They're the cashier.
They do the whole transaction.
It comes out of their dining dollars, comes out of their credit card, meal plan, whatever it is.
Now we have a printer.
It prints a little sticker.
You put it to the cup.
How many drinks can you make in two minutes?
Four.
So, you think about how you're tying up that cashier.
Then we completely change the flow of one of our locations where we now have those, correct me if I'm wrong here, we have two TV screens.
The orders populate.
I think our staff just kind of swipe some as they're coming in.
But looking at the footsteps that they were taking, the steps that they were taking before compared to what they're doing now, everyone is virtually staying still now.
Our staff is staying still.
They got the order.
It comes up on the screen.
They work in their space.
They put it up on the counter.
There's a receipt.
There's a sticker.
So, Christie really helped us work through that whole thing.
Go to Dunkin' Donuts.
They're brilliant.
They have that totally figured out.
They're dialed in.
We have that dialed in now.
Starbucks is the same way.
So, it has maximized our efficiencies.
Our staff does not complain that they're doing double the amount of volume.
They're actually saying this is so much better because they're not running around anymore within the space where the cashier would have to hand off the receipt.
They would have to go and make the order as you can imagine.
So, it's just far more efficient.
So, then mid-semester, and I hate doing things mid-semester, our grill, one of our grills in retail actually, Christie, it was you.
We were talking.
You're like, why don't you just go with mobile order only at this location.
I was kind of sweating a little bit.
I'm like, you know what?
Yeah, we're going to do it.
So, I told the team.
I said, you know what?
We need a week.
Let's get our marketing to roll this out.
Let the students know.
You've got to give people a heads up.
They actually didn't listen to me, and they rolled it out the very next day.
And I walked into the location.
It's mobile only.
I'm like, what are you guys doing?
They said, what?
I said, for a week.
They're like, you did?
I'm like, yeah, I did.
And it was so smooth.
No student complained.
No customer complained.
There was no prior communication.
These students today, this is what they want to do.
They want to order from their phone.
They don't want to order in person.
And that location is now doing double the volume at that location.
Starbucks we proudly brew.
I was scared to death of putting it there all day long.
So, we're doing like two o'clock in the afternoon until five when we were the slowest.
And we doubled the volume in the afternoon.
Now we're doing it from the morning all the way to the night.
And the supervisor there, someone actually much older.
And sometimes our older folks have a hard time with technology.
She's like, I love this.
This is just so amazing.
So, being able to take that time away from the pleasantries, the ordering, typing everything in, grabbing someone's credit card or their card and swiping it, handing it back, and then making the orders.
Just so much more efficient.
So, I don't know if I'm answering your question.
I'm kind of all over the place.
Now you're doing great.
This is gold.
I feel like we got a whole article right there just from what you were saying.
It's amazing.
I mean, feel free to use me if you want to.
If you want to anything that I'm saying here, you can utilize it.
Thanks, Rich.
Yeah, we've got, I'm sure Rachel's mind is spinning with the thousand questions she wants to ask.
One question I have, I know you're talking about some of the locations like doubling in volume, that sort of thing.
Is that something you'd be able to pull some hard data on and we'd be able to use that in this article or case study or whatever it becomes?
Yeah, sure.
That's easy.
Okay, great.
Rachel, I'll let you go next because I've got a few too, but I'm sure you're spinning with questions.
Yeah, I mean, I feel like the first thing on my mind is you mentioned some upticks, doubling orders.
If you had to just really kind of simplify the biggest challenge and the biggest benefit, how would you just kind of frame that so I can use that as a lens while I process all the information you shared?
Yeah, I think the biggest challenge is talking people off the ledge, right, that we're going to do this and there's just this fear factor.
And myself included when you read this, when you read my article, I was really leery about mobile ordering 10 years ago when it all first got started.
How is this going to affect the staff?
Because I think people's head go, okay, we're not a restaurant.
We have this dupe machine, if that's what you want to call it, like in a restaurant.
If that thing just keeps going off and off and off and off, how are we going to keep up between the customers that are coming up in this dupe machine that is constantly going?
But it works.
You just have to trust it.
You have to trust the GrubHub partners, right, that we have.
You guys have seen it, seen this successful everywhere.
And the fact that we can take an entire location and switch it in one day with a completely different staff that has never experienced this before and see the sales double just within a few days, it just started to double.
It's just right there alone.
It's just you've got to trust the process.
You've got to trust the system.
The system works.
But I do like mobile order only even better.
I never thought that I would say that because it just takes those people out of the equation completely from walking up and ordering.
And our students love it.
Our community is completely fine with it.
I would say we probably have 100% of our students using it on a daily basis at least minimally once a day, sometimes twice a day.
And even our faculty and staff are fine with it.
So in the fall we'll have three locations, three entire locations that will be mobile only.
And that is just going to make us more efficient at those three locations.
Wow, that's awesome.
And in terms of obviously there may be some labor savings there or would you say you reallocated that labor because you were getting so many more orders that now you just were able to have more people fulfilling the orders instead of spending the time taking the orders?
Yeah, I never want to cut labor.
Everybody's different with that.
We're a non-profit institution.
We're not a for-profit like Sodexo or anything.
So what we did is we just took that same labor and just reallocated it.
And you were going to need it anyway with the uptick.
You're making it easier now so therefore you're going to get more orders.
You're going to need those people to now be kind of on that line preparing that food.
I wouldn't call it a labor savings.
It would be a labor savings I suppose if there was no increase in sales.
There's no increase at all in sales.
And you were doing the same exact volume.
But I don't think anybody that implements this and does it right would do the same level of sales.
I would say you're not doing it right or you're not doing a good job if you're actually doing the same level of sales.
I don't see how the sales couldn't go up no matter where you put this.
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
So really just focused on the increase in sales and then that creates a more efficient operation.
Yeah, and ultimately it's bringing down your labor percentage.
I would say that.
If I'm doing $400,000 at this location with $200,000 worth of labor but now I'm doing $800,000 in sales with the same $200,000 in labor, my labor percentage just went way down.
That's always from a financial standpoint.
That's always how I've been trained.
Everything is really percentages.
Yeah, definitely.
And then I know you mentioned a little bit about student satisfaction but just to drill into the student experience more.
Is there anything you want to add in terms of, like, I guess the fact that there's more sales means more students are using it and likely happy with it.
But just want to kind of talk about that angle a little bit.
Yeah, definitely.
And this is where I'm going to tell you a little bit about where you might get pushback from some people out there.
So this might even help with your writing, right?
Some folks are going to say, especially in the for-profit sector, which I did for 16 years with Compass Group, right?
They're going to say, well, they're on a meal plan and if they're utilizing that meal plan more, like here at Holy Cross, it's an unlimited meal plan in the residential dining, then they get eight meal swipes a week in the retail, and they're able to use GrubHub with those meal swipes, essentially not costing the students any additional money.
So, our participation rate is something that we really focus on and it has a huge impact on our financials.
Our participation rate is probably somewhere around 62%, roughly.
If I look at it right now and I do the numbers, I bet you we're closer to 85%.
Now, people who are in the business, especially in the for-profit world, are going to say, oh my God, that's costing you way more money.
Well, yeah, it is costing us more money, but what's happening is our satisfaction has gone up tremendously and I would say a great deal of that is because of GrubHub, but our credit card sales are now much higher also.
That's new money, that's new found money, that's real money.
So now that credit card sales and those additional transactions that are above and beyond the meal plan, that's new found money.
So now you have a lot more faculty, staff, and guests that are actually eating with us that were not doing that once before.
So, we drove, like our sales year on year have increased by, don't write an article on this and quote me on this, okay, please, but our sales have increased by $2 million, right?
Year on year.
So, a great part of that $2 million is we're able to get people through these locations quicker.
And a lot of that has to do with GrubHub, right?
So, but also it's costing us a lot more money because we're spending a lot more money on the meal plan food because the business participation is a lot higher.
So, the net net is yeah, we're still in a positive place and again, being that non-profit, we're beating our budget, we're making our budget, but we're feeding a lot more people.
And it's really, it's a win-win.
So, I've always believed even if you put GrubHub mobile ordering aside, that if you go for the quality and you go for the consistency and you drive the program to satisfaction, you're always going to get additional organic sales that are outside of that meal plan.
That's always worked out really well for me.
And now doing it the way we're doing it, having the kiosks available for those non-GrubHub app users, watching parents all the time, watching groups come in, they're using those kiosks, where maybe before they would not have ordered with us because it was just long student lines.
But now they can actually place the order and they can get a text message saying when it's ready.
So, it's just a total game changer.
Amazing.
Super, super helpful insights there.
Christy, are there any questions you want to ask?
Yeah, I do have a few.
I think you touched on this one already, Rich, but you talked about at the beginning of the call how your all-you-can-eat dining hall was really overloaded and that you're kind of trying to focus on this push towards retail.
You know, in your you mentioned like you've had a big increase in sales and everything.
Do you think you've just spread volume away from the all-you-can-eat to retail?
Or do you think, is it a true net increase?
Oh, it's a true net increase for sure.
So, yes it's 50% are at Kimball Hall versus that 80% of those meals, but it's not the same number, not even close.
I mean, it's $2 million of additional revenue in those transactions.
I think, I have the number, I don't have it in front of me, but it was a ridiculous number.
I want to say we served like 250,000 more meals year on year.
So, and we would not be able to do that without a mobile ordering platform.
We might have been able to push it by 50,000 meals or something like that, but certainly not. $250,000, 250,000 more meals.
And again, a lot of that's being driven by meal plan, but still, it just shows you how much more efficient and the capabilities by utilizing the platform.
And Rich, I know something we've talked about before.
Can you touch on a little bit how GrubHub helps you at peak meal period?
Yeah, no, absolutely.
So, what happened before, students break out of the class and they run to these locations, right?
Some, I would even say it's a bit of a safety issue, the way they go to these locations because they want to get there and they want to be able to order.
But what they're doing, of course teachers don't want to hear this, is they're ordering ahead of time in class.
So, our staff, instead of preparing the food in front of you when you get there, we're now spreading it out through a much larger duration.
And this is where the double of volume comes in, right?
If I've got 1,000 people coming at me, it's going to be a very slow process.
I have that same 1,000 people sending in those mobile orders 15 minutes, 20 minutes before they actually get there, then we're able to accomplish that.
They all come in, nobody's waiting in line, nobody's going to the cashier station, they're grabbing their food, they're walking away.
Some are staying, some are going.
Thanks, Rich.
I have two more questions for you.
Have you found on campus that any of the students or staff miss the daily interactions or anything or is everyone happier with things in this setup?
I would say happier, absolutely happier.
They still have that opportunity to break bread, if you will, in the residential dining location.
They can come in there, they can talk to the professional staff, they can place their orders there in that residential dining experience.
But really for that, and honestly, that is the busiest meal period now for Kimball, is dinner.
That's where our mobile ordering goes way down, is that dinner experience, where the students are sitting together, they are having that interaction, that conversation.
But let's face it, our students, especially 25% of our college is athletes, D1 division athletes, they are busy, they are super, super busy.
So every minute counts, and we're able to actually give them back.
I'd say we probably give every student back at least 15, 20 minutes a day by not waiting in line now, and that is very valuable. 15, 20 minutes a day really adds up.
I'm just making up numbers, but just kind of an idea.
Now they can go to the library, now they can work out a little bit longer, they can do other things.
So even this fall coming up, we're taking our concessions over, it was outsourced before, now we're doing an internal, and we're going to be doing these post, we're going to be doing a post-workout breakfast out of the athletic center.
So once you're done lifting weights, you're done with your cardio, whatever, swimming, whatever it is you're doing, you can now use Grubhub, you can order it ahead, and you're going to pick up your protein shake, your energy bites, whatever it is that you're looking for, and you grab it, and you go.
So again, trying to save the students even more time where they were working out, they had a walk from the top of the hill to the bottom of the hill, and Rachel, I'm sure you haven't been here before, call it a half a mile, right?
You're using a lot of time, and when I'm talking to the athletes, time is of the essence.
They're in there at 5, 5.30, 6 o'clock in the morning, they want to be able to finish their workout at 7.30.
If they can place that order, and they can grab it and run, and go back to their room, shower, change, go to their class, it's huge.
So our athletes are just beyond over the moon that we're able to give them this platform, and do this out of the athletic center come the fall.
And we're doing it, we're going to be doing it at night too, so all of the sporting games that are going to happen, the biggest complaint from our guests, because the college surveys them, I don't, is the long lines.
It's the long lines at the concession stations, now they're going to be able to order via the two kiosks that we ordered for that location.
They can use it from Grubhub Mobile, and we'll have some QR codes in the stands so they can be able to scan it.
We are eventually going to create a section within the luth, which is where the basketball is, and the ice hockey is, where we are going to deliver it to certain sections.
So let's call it a premium section.
Someone can scan that QR code, they can place the order, and we are going to have weight staff that is actually going to bring it to you.
Then we're going to do the same thing down at the football stadium at some point too.
So that's more of the future.
So every decision we have now, everything that we do, it's all about the mobile ordering.
I'm not blowing smoke, I'm telling you.
When I frequent all of these, I'm just so energized by it.
I can't believe I've been in this business my entire life, pushing 36 years now.
I know I don't look that old, but 36 years in this business, and this is like the biggest thing that I've ever seen in the business that is just a total game changer.
I walk in, I was down the cave, and you see these ice cream shops.
There's one called Sunday School, and it's insane to see the lines at Sunday School.
They had Grubhub, this would fly, they would probably quadruple their volume.
It took me 45 minutes, 45 minutes to place an order for ice cream at Sunday School and down the cave.
It is, once you have seen the light, isn't it hard to just not out in public, be like, there's a better way.
Have you seen the mobile order only stores for Starbucks now?
Have you seen it?
I couldn't believe it.
I was in New York City, and this is going back quite a few months, maybe six months ago.
And I'm like, oh my god, that's just the mobile order only.
You can't, there's no store.
But it was the coolest thing.
And then I saw one actually in Boston recently too.
Yeah, it just makes so much sense.
Of all brands, Chick-fil-A is actually trying it out in New York City right now too.
They're a brand that's totally known for the warm greeting, interactions, but I think even they as a brand are starting to see that a way to warmly greet your customers to allow them to order in the way that they want to order as well.
That is another way of warmth and kindness to your customer.
Right, right.
Well, a lot of my friends, colleagues in the business who work at other institutions, I'm like, you're an idiot.
You need to use, you've got to use this platform.
It's just amazing.
Hopefully they jump on board.
But it's amazing how people are just reluctant to change.
You know, I don't know how to do business that way, but you just got to do it.
And it works.
And you start slow.
So that would be my biggest recommendation to anybody.
Start slow.
Start at one location.
Don't go, maybe don't go all in right away, but you test the water.
Then you try a mobile order only.
Or maybe you do a pop-up event in the middle of campus somewhere and you just do mobile order only to see how it goes.
And then you kind of start there and then once you start to see it and you start to trust it, that's probably the biggest thing is trusting the process.
Because you don't want angry customers.
For sure.
Yeah.
What we see is like one of the biggest battles, one of the biggest hurdles to overcome is getting students to download the app.
Right?
Like, that's something that, you know, on your campus it's so critical that they download it.
It's like you're not going to be able to eat in several locations if you don't download it.
So because you all have gone so all in, so to speak, it almost makes it easy for you to talk to your freshman and say, hey, you've got to do this.
Right?
Like it's necessary to eat on campus.
And we work with several other campuses who work that same way too.
I'd say at the campuses that are more so dabbling in it, trying it at one venue, students don't really see the value in downloading an app when it's just one venue.
Right?
They might say, I'll just go to the one next door rather than sit here and download an app and mess around with that.
Good point.
Good point.
So it's interesting, it's kind of like those campuses that really dive in head first, students really understand the value of it because it brings so much value across the whole campus.
So that's kind of what we see.
How does that piece go with your freshman?
Like how do you share to incoming students the importance of downloading the app and getting set up?
Yeah, I mean, unfortunately, so much stuff is sent to them.
Actually, my son will be here very soon.
I already told him, I said, download the app.
And he's like, I need to download the app.
So these students, what's going to end up happening is we're going to message them, they're not going to read it, we'll have signs up, they're probably not going to read it, they're going to go to a location and they're going to go, oh, the only way I can get food here is to download it.
That's when they're going to do it.
So we need to make sure that we have some ambassadors out there, we will have the signage, but we know the first week or so, the retail locations are actually going to be slow because the students are going to be slow in getting that downloaded.
We know that residential dining, as I actually just talked about today with my team, we're going to be very busy in residential dining and then they'll slowly start to drift to those retail locations once they get that rub up figured out.
But we'll communicate with them, but everybody's communicating with them.
So they're overwhelmed when they first move in.
For sure.
And I feel like the overwhelm also leads to just go to the dining hall because that's easy and I don't need to start learning where the other locations are or how they work.
Exactly.
Yeah, that makes sense.
And something now that you have the kiosks too, and this is going to be your first back to school with the kiosks, I'd say other campuses that have a very similar setup to you where you lean into mobile ordering as the heavy way to do things and there's a couple kiosks around, you're going to see really long lines at the kiosks during peak lunch periods.
So the other campuses we work with with similar setups, they truly block out the first two weeks of the school year during lunch period to have a lot of their managers just go stand at the kiosk with the QR code and go download the app, download the app, download the app, just down the line just talking to the students because it's one of the most effective ways.
You don't have to get them to read an email, you can just talk to them and solve their problem while they're standing in it.
Absolutely.
That's our exact plan.
Yep.
Love it.
Absolutely.
Yep.
And the other thing too, I don't think you have on campus right now is we do have some of these signs that Melissa could order for you.
For your three mobile only venues just so you could have this kind of up near where the register would be.
Just to help students see the messaging.
I'd love that.
