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Friday, November 08, 2024
The independent student publication of The University at Buffalo, since 1950

BuffEats - Hungry to Help

From growing up together in Coudersport, Pa. to running a self-created online business that markets restaurants in Buffalo, brothers Chris and Rob Cavallari and friend Josh Corey are satisfying their cravings by helping students satisfy their own.

Corey, a 2010 Penn. State graduate, thought that Buffalo would be the perfect place for an online food ordering service. Penn. State offers a website to students that gives them the convenience of ordering meals from various restaurants around the campus.

After a famishing first day on the job in Buffalo last year, Corey realized what little opportunities there were to order food via computer. Being accustomed to this service throughout his college career, he sought to create a convenient way for Buffalo students and residents to easily get food.

"I got in contact with Chris and said we should start a website for Buffalo, I think it'd be awesome…and we started figuring out how we could work," Corey said.

After getting on board with the idea, the three partnered up with LocalUp Solutions, a company created in 2009, which provides its services to over 30 campuses across the U.S. UB is now one of them through BuffEats.com.

BuffEats launched its website on Aug. 1 and began promoting its services to students on North Campus, with the hope of spreading its wings to South Campus in the spring. Up until now, it pushed its new service on facebook and is already up to 300-500 hits on their website including an average of 20 orders a day. They hope to make the meal ordering process, whether it's pick-up or delivery, a smoother and more precise experience for students.

"We're starting out at the University at Buffalo and just getting the word out here as much as we can, and eventually we'll slowly start spreading all through Buffalo," Corey said. "Our overall goal is that every restaurant in Buffalo is on our website."

Just Pizza and John's Pizza and Subs are just a couple of the 17 restaurants that have already signed up with BuffEats. By the fall, they expect close to 30 restaurants surrounding North Campus to follow the BuffEats trend.

The website helps students save money by offering exclusive deals. Currently BuffEats is offering a "Back to School Special," running until Sept. 4. They will continue to offer deals for specific events and holidays, as well as giveaways from pizza to even Bills tickets. Following them on Twitter or liking them on Facebook gives students the opportunity to participate and win.

The site also includes maps of each restaurant so picking up a meal becomes worry-free. Not to mention the ease of doing it online and the assurance that what you order is exactly what you'll get.

"You can get all the same food in the Student Union all the time but the real food in Buffalo is definitely something we want all students to experience. Especially the international students, trying to help them get food closer to their culture," Chris said.

The company, while only just created this past summer, already has a lot to show for itself. BuffEats offers a wide range of food from American, to Chinese, Japanese and more. They are looking to expand not only to South Campus, residential areas, and other nearby colleges, but also their menu to desserts as well. And with no place but forward to go, it is sure to become an even bigger success — changing the world one hungry student at a time.

Additional reporting by Akari Iburi

Email: features@ubspectrum.com


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