College students all around Arizona will be able to have burritos, chips and guac delivered to their dorms with the help of Tapingo.
Since our last report, San Francisco-based Tapingo, the college campus pick-up and food delivery service that expanded to Arizona, announced a new partnership with Chipotle, expanded their delivery service and launched new features for users.
Vivek Wagle, spokesperson for Tapingo, said the company is offering delivery from surrounding restaurants to students at ASU and NAU and nearby neighborhoods. For Wildcats, Tapingo is integrated with UA and offer delivery and pick-up for on-campus venues and delivery from off-campus restaurants to students and faculty; students are able to pay with their university meal plan for on-campus requests.
In comparison to other on-demand services in Arizona, Tapingo is keeping the delivery fee cheap, with an average of $2.99 per order.
In order to accurately predict delivery or pick-up times, Tapingo integrates their ordering system with on-campus venues and restaurant partners. For businesses that do not partner with the company, the delivery person will call in an order or wait in line and adjust the wait time accordingly, Wagle said.
“We work directly with merchants and run various tests at different times of the day to predict supply and demand and food prep time. We predict with a high degree of accuracy when demand spikes and when lines might be long,” Wagle said. “We never allow wait times to exceed our quality thresholds.”
Tapingo’s new features cater to the user who can plan ahead or need a quick bite.
- Scheduled Ordering. This service is designed for the student or faculty member who wants to order in advance, up to 36 hours, and pick-up their meal at a specific time.
- Ultra-Quick Service. No more waiting to pick-up a yogurt parfait when the person in front has the most complex coffee order ever. This service is for the grab-and-go items that require minimal prep time or can be purchased immediately, such as items in a display case or a bottle of water.
Tapingo isn’t stopping at burrito bowls, “Look out for a ton of new partnerships and features from us in the next few months,” Wagle said.
The company has raised $36 million in capital from notable investors, DCM Ventures, Kinzon Capital, Khosla Ventures and Carmel Ventures, and using the funds to further development and growth.
As for the college customers and Arizona community, “Where do we begin?” Wagle said. “We are constantly blown away by the love our customers show us in the Grand Canyon state, and we know that we have to keep innovating in order to continually delight our community.”
Read more coverage about Tapingo at AZ Tech Beat.
Read more coverage of tech companies expanding to Arizona here.