Tapingo

Life as a college student can be stressful. Between classes, work and trying to maintain a social life, students rarely have time to breathe. Many students complain that they hardly have time to have lunch.

Students at Cleveland State University have a resource, that few know about, to help solve this problem: Tapingo, a smart phone app that allows students to order food.

Tapingo can save students valuable time. The user orders, and pays for, food from a phone and a receipt is printed at restaurants on campus, like Papa John’s and GrillNation.

This allows workers at the restaurants to make and set the student’s food aside.

The student then arrives and picks up their food at the register. Tapingo allows students to skip lines at food vendors on campus by simply tapping and going.

“Oh, my gosh, that would save me so much time,” said Jason Downie, a CSU engineering student, from the back of the line at Papa John’s.

Of course, he wasn’t alone. All 12 people in line at Papa John’s did not know about the app. When they learned how easy the app was to install and use, the students all expressed interest in downloading the app.

The app is easy to find on any device’s app store. Simply enter “Tapingo” in the search bar and it will appear in the results.

The next step is to create an account. This requires an email address and a password.

The app will use the location services on your device to determine what participating restaurants are near you. It will also ask what university you attend so that your student account can be linked to the account and dining dollars can be used as a payment method.

Using the app becomes easier the more often it is used. The app will save orders that you commonly make at certain restaurants and you begin to get a feel for how long each restaurant takes to fill orders. The app will send email and SMS alerts to inform you that your food should be done. However, these notifications are set for the time that the restaurant estimates your food “should” be done, not necessarily when your order is done.

Other payment methods such as credit cards can also be used to pay in the app. An option to pay with cash is also available for students to use if they do not have dining dollars on their student account.

Students are not the only ones who benefit from Tapingo. Employees also benefit from expediting the ordering process. This helps ensure that the customers receive the order that they want in a faster fashion, making their job easier.

If Tapingo was expanded to include more restaurants near campus, the app could be even more useful. Places like Café ah Roma and Rascal House on Cleveland State’s campus could start incorporating Tapingo so that students could order ahead in more locations. This would benefit restaurants and students alike as it would save students time and improve the consumer experience for businesses.

Tapingo is a simple way for students to save time in their busy schedules. It allows students to skip waiting in line for their food. This makes their meal plans more accessible and user-friendly.

For restaurants and their employees, Tapingo creates an easier work environment and a better experience for their patrons, making business more profitable. Overall, Tapingo is a beneficial application for college students and the restaurants that serve them.