The company’s growth in the higher education space isn’t just represented in the shear number of campuses now on board, but also in the fact that Tapingo has partnered with some of the largest campus dining operations in the country. This includes Compass, Aramark and Sodexo along with a large roster of major private and state institutions like the Ohio State University, the University of Southern California, the University of Florida, Texas Tech University, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech).

The power of delivery

 Also central to Tapingo’s growth on campus has been the introduction of delivery as a core tenet of the app. First introduced in 2015, delivery is now offered on one-quarter of Tapingo campuses, with goals to reach 80 total delivery markets in the coming year.

In many cases, universities simply aren’t addressing the delivery market in the same way that their students are demanding.

“We have 50 delivery markets that we’re fully running, which is a huge operation –supporting the logistics to ensure students can get what they want when they want it,” says Anderson. “There’s a version of the app that our couriers use that allows them to pick shifts, update and chat with customers, and acts as the routing system they use for delivery.”

Through the courier-facing version of the app, delivery is optimized based on a number of factors. “Couriers can be instructed to pick up multiple orders at once, for example, because the system knows that stacking certain orders together is more efficient for a single delivery route,” Anderson says. “So that pizza order placed from an on-campus restaurant to a dorm, can also support a separate delivery to a student living off campus.”

The reality that delivery is a necessary service has grown with usage of mobile ordering. “There’s so much opportunity to unlock new avenues through delivery,” says Anderson. “So often we see universities, particularly with the late-night dining crowd, cede over those orders to local 24-hour fast food or pizza shops. In many cases, universities simply aren’t addressing the delivery market in the same way that their students are demanding.”

Delivery has quickly become another service that’s difficult for campuses to ignore. Whether a standard pizza delivery, or Starbucks delivered to a student in the library, the still-young mobile ordering formula is changing to accommodate delivery. The University of Arizona is even running poolside deliveries to students.

Innovative and inventive campuses are already using Tapingo’s delivery infrastructure to open up new service capabilities. “It’s exciting; we’re looking at on-campus grocery and convenience store delivery,” says Anderson. “You can even use the app to manage a more flexible on-campus catering service.”

Data driven

With increased usage comes the ability to glean information that can be used to refine services even further. Tapingo campuses all have access to a full dashboard platform that the company has built, which acts as a management and reporting tool.