By: Ethan Shew, Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, ebs5527@psu.edu  

 A brand-new way to order food has hit the Penn State community. The Penn State Eats app offers a convenient and safe way to order food from your local dining hall.  

To use this feature, go to the Penn State Go app, press the Dining button, and make an account to pick a vendor. In Brandywine’s case that would be the Blue Apple Café. This program was designed to order food and allow payment using the student’s meal plan, Lion Cash, or credit/debit card.  

After ordering on the Penn State Go app, head over to the Blue Apple Café to pick it up. Instead of going into the serving area and going directly to the chefs, just go to the pickup window (seen in the picture above) at the Starbucks area and the correct bag (thye’ll be labeled). It is that easy! As easy as that may sound it gets even easier with advance ordering. Just schedule to pick up the food so it will be hot and ready right at the Blue Apple to eat before or after class. 

 Elizabeth Kearns, the director of housing and food services, and Neil LaGreca, manager of housing and food services, were able to give the inside scoop on the PSU Eats program. LaGreca was one of the many people responsible for the creation of PSU Eats program, not just at Brandywine but University wide!  

When asked what this program was created to do, Kearns said, “The main objective is to still provide a great dining experience but to also help students stay safe during this pandemic and make it easier to get your favorite selections at Blue Apple.” Penn State Eats is still new and there are plans to add even more options soon. Now though, there are a wide variety of options present including sushi, steak, surf, and turf among many other delicious options. LaGreca and Kearns made sure to highlight just how important this program was, not just to the faculty and staff but also to the students’ experience, who had requested just such a feature through surveys and the Food Advisory Board. After the popularity of mobile ordering apps like DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats, etc. and the presence of mobile ordering features at other Big Ten schools, it became clear that Penn State needed a mobile presence of their own and thus Penn State Eats was born.  

While this feature is for the students, it was also created with the faculty and staff in mind. Instructors can limit contact and stay COVID-19 free while also picking up some food whenever they want to take a walk to the Blue Apple Café. Speaking of COVID-19, this program has been in the works for a long time but once the pandemic hit in March, the program was fast tracked to completion as it became obvious such a feature would be ideal on campus for the near future.  

This app will be a game changer for the University and Brandywine students alike, but for those who do want to eat in the Blue Apple Café, Kearns mentioned that the dining hall is open. Tables are limited to only two people are allowed per table. The dining hall is following PSU procedures by sanitizing seats, tables, plates, cups, and more between diners to keep everyone safe.  

The Penn State Eats app is a big part of the future of on-campus dining, pandemic or not. Make sure to visit the Penn State Go app to place an order today!