Grab & Go

Take Out at Ortega Commons

In just a few minutes, students with a meal plan can order food, pick up, and take it to go! Residential Dining has introduced a new concept to its program that is very popular among student customers — ordering food via a mobile application and picking up their order to “Take Out” from Ortega Commons and enjoy elsewhere. For Campus Dining, it was clear that with the COVID-19 pandemic, on the go pick up mobile food ordering was mainstream and convenient for customers. Residential Dining wanted to explore how to bring this concept into the dining program fold.

Ortega Commons is the home for the Take Out program and is open weekdays for continuous grab and go meal service with a restaurant style menu. Daily lunch and dinner specials are offered in addition to our classic menu standards that range from favorite comfort foods to modern global cuisine, including a variety of plant-based options. Popular item selections include the bacon breakfast burrito, the classic Ortega burger and the chicken Caesar salad. 

How does ordering work? A student downloads the Transact Mobile Ordering app on their mobile device, searches for UC Santa Barbara, finds Ortega as the location, selects the items to order (entree, side, dessert, beverage and more), and then chooses a pick up time. Once the order has been confirmed on the app, one meal will be deducted from the student’s meal plan. When the student is notified that their order is ready, they can proceed to Ortega Commons and scan the QR code to pick up their order from a food locker.

With program exploration taking place in the spring of 2021 and approval to move forward happening later in the summer, the team had a compressed time frame to figure out several logistical components to be ready to roll out the program in the fall of 2021. Residential Dining worked with Ortega staff, the ARIT team, vendors, and others to be ready to launch the Take Out program. In preparation, dining tested the service and ordering system with real customers, including select HDAE staff members and a group of Resident Assistants. The overall feedback was positive as it related to the quality and quantity of the food, and the ease of ordering. It can’t be denied that there is a coolness factor with the “space age” food lockers and ease of ordering food that makes this program successful.