Introduction

College students are notorious for being one thing: poor. With all of the money spent on tuition, housing, books, and partying, students have little money left over to spend on anything else, especially food. However with the growth of food service providers online, such as Grub Hub and Seamless, as well as restaurants providing an order online option, more college students seem to be able to afford full meals and not the stereotypical ten-cent pack of ramen noodles. By asking a series of questions in an online survey, this study focuses on discovering repeating patterns in college students ordering food through food service providers online. It was conducted to determine when students are ordering food online and the frequency of students ordering. It determines what they are ordering, why students are ordering food online even if they had other food options such as a meal plan on campus, and how much a student would spend on average on one online meal and the frequency of their ordering. This study has taken previous studies and in combination with our own observations, produced hypothesis to test with an online survey.

In an article published in the New York Times entitled "www.frieswiththat?.com", author Stephanie Rosenbloom wrote that the main purpose behind the explosion of ordering food online, was the creation of an atmosphere that allowed customers to customize their food in world where they could customize everything else. People enjoy ordering online because they can multi-task while ordering their food. " 'I'm saving time," said Mr. Friedman, who orders breakfast and lunch online. 'I'm so adept at it now that I can actually do business on the phone while I'm placing my food order'" (Rosenbloom). According to Rosenbloom online ordering is all about convenience and accuracy. This study investigates other motivations behind ordering online, specifically how users choose which restaurant, of many, they want to order from. The survey takes specific positive and negative experiences into account in order to access if ordering online is more convenient or dysfunctional for college users.

To address our question of why students were choosing to order food online, another source brought us information regarding the motivational factors behind ordering food online. In the Journal of Food Products and Marketing, the study "Convenience, Price, Product: Motivators for Online Specialty Food Consumers" conducted by Gregory White, examines the factors motivating consumers' purchases of specialty food and beverage products via the Internet. It found the main factors behind these motivations are convenience, price, and product selection (2001). Our study is designed to discover not only the most popular food item students were ordering, but also why students were ordering that particular food item. We predicted that students are more inclined to place an order for a specific type of food because of its price rather than the type of food itself.

In addition to the previously stated article, a study conducted by Cornell entitled "The Current State of Online Food Ordering in the U.S. Restaurant Industry" concluded after their study that Italian, namely, pizza was most often ordered online (Kimes, 2011). The Cornell Hospitality Report, like White's previous study, found that convenience was also a motivating factor. Unlike White however, Cornell University also discovered that being in control of what you order was also a key motivator to ordering food online.

Though all of these articles provide valuable insight to the growing online food industry, they only address the general public as opposed to a specified demographic. Through our study we narrow these previously found results to specifically identify patterns within college student ordering habits. In addition, this study aims to find connections between students with meal plans and those without in terms of ordering frequency as well as find out how much a student is willing to pay for a customized meal, which hopefully is accurate when it is delivered. With this study, we hope to add to the growing research that has already been conducted in regards to online food service as well as gain insight to college students' habits and food preferences

Although college students are poor, they still have tremendous spending power in the US economy. It's important to understand the study how and why they spend their money so that marketers and researchers can better target millennials. This study may also benefit companies that offer online food delivery by serving as market research. It provides insight into the minds of college students; a demographic that companies can otherwise spend thousands of dollars on focus groups trying to understand. Lastly, it benefits other college students. By knowing how their peers spend their money and make decisions such as what to eat, students can learn to make better decisions for their wallets and bodies.