A Closer Look at Student Food-Ordering Habits

Whether it’s a rainy night or sunny weekend afternoon, delivery cars can often be spotted bringing delicious food to students all around campus. Over the years, more and more restaurants have chosen to partner with delivery services like DoorDash and Uber Eats, providing customers with greater access to get food. Choate students have taken full advantage of these additional food options.

“I favor McDonald’s since it’s quick, easy and the food is overall pretty good. For me, their fries and nuggets are definitely a winner,” said Bradley Wang ’21, who said he orders around once a week from Popeyes, Cheeks Chicken, or McDonald’s. A frequent user of Uber Eats, Wang complimented their friendly interface, but is not a fan of the large fees. “With price in mind, UberEats obviously pales in comparison to other services, but it’s great for convenience,” Wang explained.

For Clare Stuart ’21 and Camille Johnson ’21, two residents of Bernhard House, ordering McDonald’s or Chipotle through Uber Eats is a more convenient option than the dining hall. However, Johnson also shared that, in her experience, Uber Eats does not always have accurate arrival time estimates. “Once, I ordered something for my roommate and I that was supposed to arrive 20 minutes before study hours started, but ended up arriving after curfew,” Johnson explained.

Mia Scarpati ’21 and Lucy McGrath ’21 usually order food together around once a week during meal time. “We order when the dining hall food isn’t great, or if we really want something from one of the restaurants,” said McGrath. Choosing from a variety of restaurants like BMuse, HFT Grill, and Chipotle, they order through either Uber Eats or DoorDash. “I prefer DoorDash because Uber Eats is often slow and unreasonably expensive,” said Scarpati.

Yuting Wang ’20 mentioned that oftentimes, she has too much work to do and doesn’t have time to walk to and from the dining hall. She also finds ordering food simple and delicious. “The drivers are all really nice and patient about finding a specific dorm, which is great,” Wang said.

While most students interviewed order only a few times a month, a few have become food delivery service regulars. “I really do order a lot,” confessed Jay Zhou ’21, who explained he utilizes food delivery services nearly daily. “I usually use DoorDash instead of Uber Eats because it has more options and really great customer service.” Zhou often orders simply because he has no time to eat with sports ending around 5:00 p.m. and rehearsal starting around 6:00 p.m..

Local favorite Mr. D’s recently joined Uber Eats around eight months ago. “We started asking kids who worked here or people who came in if they’ve used it or heard about it, and we got good responses from people, and that’s when we really started considering the possibility,” said manager Ms. Hannah Grills. Uber Eats has also helped to increase the business of Mr. D’s, introducing new customers and bringing around five to ten orders per day. “It also helps when in-store business is slow, like when there’s bad weather,” Grills continues. “But usually, the orders come in around 7:00 or later, and there’s definitely more coming in on the weekends.” Although the entire menu is not available through Uber Eats, simply because there are just too many items, the more popular choices like smoothies, cupcakes, and ice cream are just as popular through delivery. The only issues with Uber Eats has been when an order comes in around five minutes before closing, or a big order is placed when the store is busy, but the staff has managed to deal with that without any major complications.

McDonald’s, one of the restaurants most frequently ordered from through food delivery services, has only been connected with Uber Eats for around a year. “The delivery service option has only grown in popularity,” said manager Mr. Harold Rivera. Mr. Rivera explained that there are days when only a few orders come in and other days where orders are placed every ten minutes. Periods of high customer volume usually occur on Fridays and Saturdays for lunch and dinner, whenre around seven or eight large orders need to be taken care of at the same time. “It can get a little chaotic since we have to make the orders of drive-thru, over-the-counter, and Uber Eats customers all at once, all the while making sure we don’t spend too much time on one order and neglecting another,” said Mr. Rivera. “We only have a couple of drivers and that makes it especially difficult for late night orders to arrive promptly and on time, especially if none of our regular drivers are on duty.” However, the addition of this delivery service has allowed for better customer outreach and, like Mr. D’s, a noticeable increase in business. “Overall it’s been a great incorporation for our store and we’re even thinking of expanding to other delivery services soon,” said Mr. Rivera.

It should come as no surprise that delivery food is so prevalent on Choate’s campus, but the recent rise in popularity has benefited both restaurants and students, with the former seeing advantageous economic changes, and the latter given more expansive options for food outside of campus.