A new semester at South Carolina has brought many new things to Columbia’s campus: new students, new opportunities and now, Tapingo. This flamingo-rhyming mobile app allows students to place orders for pickup in dining halls and other campus eateries in advance, saving both time and energy for students as they skip the line.
“We know you’re busy,” the Carolina Food Co. said about the app. “Order from the palm of your hand.”
Sporting the catchphrase “Wait less. Live more,” Tapingo works to allow students to spend less time waiting in line, and more time meeting new people, studying and hanging out with friends. In fact, the app can be connected to the CarolinaCard, and students can pay for food through the app using CarolinaCash or their meal plan.
Students can register their CarolinaCard in Tapingo using the GET mobile app, which allows students access to their meal plans without swiping their card.
Over 60 universities across the U.S. use Tapingo on campus to accommodate their students, and USC's implementation of it opens up access to food on any part of campus within seconds. It gives students a chance to diversify their diet and try new dining options on campus instantly.
"The app was really efficient," first-year computer science student Adam Lewis said. "It would be really efficient if more people got onto the app and started using it, because it would expedite the process of getting food sometimes and make the lines a lot shorter."
Tapingo contains 17 dining options on campus, including the new Starbucks in Thomas Cooper Library, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Community Table, Horseshoe Deli and Topio's.
While it is useful in communicating with the restaurants you are ordering from, the app lacks the option to communicate back to its customers. Not every restaurant has every type of food all of the time, and there is no way for a customer to know that until they come to pick up their food.
First-year computer science student Samyu Comandur ran into this problem the first time she used the app at Einstein Bros., and her order was not made when she arrived.
"They weren't able to tell me they were out of what I wanted," Comandur said. "You kind of have to be really close to the area to use it."
The app is free and available for any student to use on campus, and is good for any on-the-go food run between classes.