Molly Hunter
Several Iowa City restaurants are looking forward to increased business thanks to a new app, which has been introduced to the University of Iowa community.
The Feeder Meal Plan, which was previously available at Boulder College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has now added the UI to its list of institutions.
Frankie Schneckloth, the Iowa City director of the Feeder Meal Plan, said the plan was originally developed for college athletes.
“It’s a way to feed student-athletes when they don’t have meals catered in,” she said.
Restaurants must be approved by university nutritionists before they may be included in the athlete meal plan.
However, because of its now-widespread use, restaurant involvement in the general meal plan is not so restricted. After being introduced at the Wisconsin-Madison, the Feeder Meal Plan decided to transition from a card-based system to one app-based and partnered with a team in Madison to develop the app.
The app and card both have bar codes that can be scanned to pay for food. The service uses money drawn directly out of an account that holds an amount of money chosen by students or their parents.
“There is a tipping functionality available,” Schneckloth said. “Some restaurants have asked to have it turned off to streamline their businesses.”
About this, Jason Deppe, the owner of the Mondo’s Saloon, said, “We’re a full-service restaurant … you either have Subway or you’ve got … where you pick out your order, you sit down, somebody brings it to you, they clean up your mess. And that’s what we’re based on, so we definitely have the tip option.”
However, because of NCAA restrictions, athletes cannot tip at all, Schneckloth said.
She said the meal program was brought to Iowa City a year and a half ago to test the waters.
“The black card has been in existence on a small-scale trial basis for about a year and a half,” she said. The app, however, was introduced to Iowa City just this semester.
Seth Mosbrucker, the manager of the Iowa City Which Wich, said his was one of the restaurants that hosted the trial program.
“We started with the black card … in January,” he said. “We thought it was a good opportunity to incorporate university students. We figured we could help them out by using a different source of payment rather than cash, debit, or credit.”
Deppe’s restaurant is among those to be newly included in the Feeder Meal Plan. According to him, the Feeder Meal Plan is still important for non-athlete students, as it makes home style, sit-down dinners more accessible.
“I think it’s great,” he said. “You look at what the university has for food, and as spread out as the campus is … this is a more convenient thing. Because, as a restaurant, we already have the infrastructure set up.”
“It’s a great way to connect our local businesses with student patrons,” Schneckloth said.
This paves the way for building a group of reliable, regular customers for area businesses. There are other benefits, too, though.
According to Deppe, one of these benefits is that the app is cost-friendly for local restaurants.
“I think it’s a really fair rate,” he said.
Feeder also has a list of restaurants in the area that use the service, which Mosbrucker said is “a way to get our name out there without any sort of other advertisements.”
And, Schneckloth said, there are no credit-card fees associated with using the Feeder Meal Plan. Best of all, she said, “It can only be used on food — it can’t be used to purchase alcohol or tobacco.”