Students come to Duke looking for expanded opportunities. Junior Garrett Bean saw one, grabbed it and is now one of the few 20 year-olds who can call himself the founder, president and CEO of his own private enterprise—Gourmet Dining and Bakery, LLC.
The company’s prospectus declares itself the “country’s first program to integrate into a university’s on-campus debit card system in order to sell goods and services online to students.” With an estimated potential market of $16 million annually—the total value of everyone’s food points at Duke—the future looks bright for the completely student-run business.
About a year and a half ago Bean approached Jim Wulforst, director of dining services, with a seemingly far-fetched idea. He wanted to start a program that enabled students to do business with the Merchants on Points program via Blackboard. “I pitched the idea to Jim Wulforst and he was really supportive, but clearly there was a lot of work to do and I don’t think he really thought I was going to do it,” Bean said.
Then he got five of his friends together—all with different skill sets—to invest their time and find sources of start-up capital. Peter Williams, Keith Rand, Katherine Healy, Stephen Cox and Octavia Swanson now form GDB’s executive board. Their proposal was approved by the Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee, and they now have some of the community’s most popular eateries on board for the online food ordering and delivery service. Their partners include new Duke Merchants on Points Chai’s Noodle Bar and Bistro, Dale’s Indian Cuisine, Q-Shack, Mad Hatter’s Cafe and Bakery Shop and current merchant Papa John’s Pizza.
“We have two major factors going for us: new food and new technology,” said sophomore Peter Williams, chief operating officer, who added that these assets will increase accuracy, convenience and overall efficiency. “We’re pretty much trying to create a student services website using the DukeCard technology that Blackboard provides us with.”
They ultimately hope to create a one-stop shop for college students that provides a wide array of goods and services including music, games and syndicated media first at Duke, and eventually in other markets. GDB hopes to foster relationships with students as business colleagues and customers.
“Anything that is a student business now, we would be interested in joining forces with,” he said. “I’m very interested in helping other student businesses thrive.”
As part of its effort to stay student focused, GDB decided to keep its share prices affordable enough for students, at $0.40 each with a limit of 2,500 shares. Furthermore, upon graduation, students who have invested in the company are required to sell their shares. “The reason for that is that we don’t want an outsider coming in and taking over,” Bean said. They plan for it to continue as a student-owned and operated company.
As for now, the student-executives’ priorities are working on getting their website launched and ironing out any kinks. They anticipate their website, www.gdbdelivery.com, will be up and running before the semester is over, as soon as mid- to late March. Some students however, are skeptical about how much this will revolutionize dining at Duke.
“I don't think that the ordering process is the problem with Merchants on Points, and I don't really think that a website will make that much of a difference if it’s all places we can just call and place an order,” sophomore Megan Ix said. “In one sense it has the potential to be efficient and organized ... and [in] another, it just seems people are getting more and more lazy.”
Sophomore Will Moss might prove Ix’s point. “It certainly seems easier than picking up the phone,” he said. “I’d do it.”
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