The highly anticipated additions to Duke’s Merchants on Points program through Gourmet Dining and Bakery, LLC. have finally arrived, expanding student dining selections and facilitating delivery options with the launch of an online ordering system last Thursday.
GDB—the student-founded company that created a website allowing students to order food through Duke’s Blackboard Learning System—allows students use DukeCards to order from Pop’s Trattoria, The Original Q-Shack, Dale’s Indian Cuisine, Mad Hatters Café and Bake Shop and Papa John’s Pizza.
But GDB met its first hitch Monday when officials met with representatives from Chai’s Noodle Bar and Bistro—one of the most popular new vendors in the program—and discontinued their contract.
GDB President and senior Garrett Bean said Chai’s could not keep up with the combination of walk-in orders and online volume. The GDB manager added that he was forced to personally call and cancel several of the orders.
“I know Chai’s was a big deal and [it was] a big win to get them, but I just don’t feel that their product is at the same quality it used to be a year ago when we first approached them,” Bean said. “Our goal is to make Merchants on Points better—Chai’s is not willing to do that.”
Last semester GDB launched online ordering at Chai’s as a test-run. The venture began and ended on the same day due to overwhelming business and “physical inability to handle orders,” Director of Dining Services Jim Wulforst said. Over the summer, GDB improved their software and restarted with Chai’s last Thursday.
GDB’s online software manager and another GDB employee oversaw the new system and advised staff at Chai’s Saturday night. Bean said Chai’s staff refused to take the advice, but Chai’s owner and head chef Jimmy Chhay maintained that GDB’s staff did not understand the strain on the kitchen chefs.
“I was reluctant to be on the program at first,” Chhay said. “The only way we could do it was to be able to accept or reject any order depending on how busy we were.”
Although Bean’s company guaranteed these terms, Chhay said matters unfolded otherwise. “Things weren’t fixed the way we wanted them to,” he said.
Despite the turbulence in the first week of business, Bean is pleased with the overall GDB service.
“You don’t get a busy signal, you don’t get put on hold, you don’t get someone who’s frustrated taking your order and you can really customize it,” Bean said, adding the technology will improve order accuracy and delivery time.
And the loss of Chai’s did not affect other vendors from jumping on board with the program.
Symposium Café—which serves gourmet sandwiches, wraps, desserts and specialty drinks—will join GDB’s website within the next few weeks. It will only accept credit cards online.
“In the long run, more variety is going to be better,” Wulforst said, noting that officials will work out problems in the program as it grows. “The first week of school, most students haven’t realized there are new vendors—especially first-years—but by the second and third week, things should get rolling.”
GDB will continue to work on streamlining the system, finishing up the group feature that will allow several students to coordinate ordering via email. Its launch is expected within the next few weeks.
“I think it’s a good idea because if I am in the lab or the library, I can order on the Internet and keep working without leaving where I’m at,” said sophomore Joshua Solano.
Some students, however, do not find the number of vendors sufficient to warrant online ordering.
“The selection’s limited, so I’d probably never get around to using [online ordering],” sophomore Katya Fernandez noted. “The concept revolves around convenience, but the selection just isn’t enough to attract me.”
Advertising for the new online system began with in-store displays in the participating restaurants. Next week, all the online vendors will give away one free item for each new person registering in the system.
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