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Courtesy of deals4meals.com[/caption]
Colder weather and football season means greater student demand for food delivery. Deals4Meals, an online restaurant order service, says it sends drivers for about 100 trips to campus regularly with up to 500 trips during the fall and winter seasons.
Deals4Meals CEO and founder Kenneth Cucchia, SHU alum (2010), launched his business in 2011 to provide convenience for students looking for more options than college campuses have to offer while giving students the opportunity to use Pirate’s Gold to pay for their meals.
Cucchia said online ordering will be even more convenient for students with a Deals4Meals mobile application.
The app provides quick access to local restaurants that offer takeout and delivery services.
“Five years ago is a long time, but I still remember what it was like to only have three options when I wanted delivery and wanted to pay with my Pirate’s Gold,” Cucchia said. “Now there’s over 20 options (with Deals4Meals).”
Five of these options, and the most popular restaurants with delivery services among SHU students, says Cucchia, include the University Sub Shop, Above Restaurant & Bar, Roman Gourmet Pizza, Millburn Deli, and Tito’s Burritos & Wings.
“Some of the takeout places I order from are Blue Ocean and Tito’s,” Neetu Nirappil, junior biology major in the physical therapy program said.
“I get sesame chicken and rice from Blue Ocean and chicken wings from Tito’s.” Nirappil said.
Both Blue Ocean Chinese Restaurant and Tito’s Burritos & Wings offer students meals suited for a college budget with a delivery order minimum of $10 for Blue Ocean and $15 for Tito’s.
Mike Caldarella, co-founder of Tito’s Burritos & Wings, says SHU students love their wings, empanadas, quesadillas, and the burritos.
“Currently, roughly 15 percent of our entire customer base belongs to SHU,” Caldarella said. “We would certainly like to see this number grow.”
Tito’s Burritos & Wings located on W South Orange Ave, a five minute drive from campus, shows its appreciation of the SHU community offering a 20 percent discount off a meal purchase with a Seton Hall student, faculty, or staff member identification card.
Residence halls located farther from the caf than others see a seasonal increase in the number of online orders from restaurants like Tito’s Burritos & Wings, “Cabrini has an uptick when the weather is miserable,” Cucchia said.
Food delivery services still remain popular among students who dorm closer to the Pirate Dining Room in the Bishop Dougherty University Center.
Nirappil, who is a resident assistant and dorms in Aquinas Hall said, “As unhealthy as it may be I order probably once a week.”
For frequent users of Deals4Meals, the more food orders students place online, the more points they accumulate for discounts and savings towards future food delivery orders.
Deals4Meals also offers a feature for students who order from participating Relay For Life restaurants to save an automatic 5 percent off their order with the savings donated to Relay For Life and the American Cancer Society.
Deals4Meals has over 40 drivers throughout Essex County, providing delivery services and accommodating student campus payment systems, such as Pirate’s Gold, for hungry students at Seton Hall as well as Stevens Institute of Technology and Pace University.
Leah Carton can be reached at leah.carton@student.shu.edu
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