Hypotheses

H1: DePaul students are more likely to order food on the weekend than on during the week.

H0: DePaul students are more likely to order food during the week than on the weekend.

In a study on consumer behavior when ordering online from Cornell University, researcher Sheryl Kimes found that when "asked to indicate their frequency of ordering for different dining occasions, 75.1 percent of respondents reported their most frequent reason for ordering food was for social occasions" (2011b, p.10). Considering that college students are usually consumed with class and homework during the week, the majority of DePaul students' social occasions take place during the weekend. Consequently, it is likely that DePaul students order online food delivery on the weekend.

In addition, one of the researcher's personal experiences in a restaurant that offers online food delivery shows that in general, more deliveries are placed on weekend nights than during the week in that particular restaurant. This pattern may apply to other restaurants as well.

This hypotheses was supported by our results.

H2: DePaul students are more likely to base their food ordering decision on the cost of the food and delivery than any other factor.

H0: DePaul students are more likely to base their food ordering decision on factors other than the cost of the food and delivery

"A recent survey by Retail Forward found that although shoppers of all ages say they're buying less expensive versions of products, those in their 20s and 30s are the most likely to do so" (Palmer, 2010, p.29). Members of Generation-Y, particularly college students, are almost always looking for ways to save money. While the generation is still very consumer oriented, many millennials look for sales, thrifty alternatives, and good bargains. As millennial Andrew Fereday puts it, "It's almost like being frugal is in," (Palmer, 2010, p.30). This means that college students believe in saving money, or at least spending less of it when given the option. The presence of budget management offices on DePaul's campus and "ways to save money" poster boards in nearly every dorm building suggest that DePaul students are fairly concerned about how much money they are spending and what they are spending it on. With this in mind, it is likely that the cost of their meal will be at the front of their mind when ordering food for delivery online.

This hypothesis was not supported by our results

H3: DePaul students with a meal plan are less likely to order food online than students without a meal plan.

H0: DePaul students with a meal plan are not less likely to order food online than students without a meal plan.

Although we were unable to locate any previous studies regarding the spending habits of students with college meal plans, all three researches have had meal plans. In our experiences, when a college student has a meal plan they are likely to eat at the dinning hall over anywhere else. This can be contributed to a number of factors. First, students with meal plans have access to a wide variety of food options in one convenient setting (the dining hall). The ease of going to the dinning hall makes using their meal plan an appealing choice. Some students may even feel bad about themselves for being lazy if they opt to have food delivered to their door rather than walk a block to the dinning hall. Also, the meal plans are all prepaid and do not offer refunds. Students may feel obligated to use the money that they have already spent so it does not get wasted as opposed to spending even more money on food from outside source. These influences may keep DePaul students with meal plans from ordering online as often as those who do not have a meal plan.

This hypothesis was supported by our results.