The Off-Campus Dining Network, which offers an alternative to campus meal plans, will expand its services to the University in the fall.
The network, which is not affiliated with the University, allows students who participate in the plan to order what they want from the menus of selected restaurants. The restaurant swipes the student’s meal plan card and the balance is debited from the account. Students also can order delivery from the selected restaurants that provide it.
The Off-Campus Dining Network, which was established in July of 2002, also provides “members-only discounts” — 10 to 15 percent off of meals at a featured restaurant.
Rob Manderine, the market manager of the Off-Campus dining network, said the plan offers freedom to eat “when, where and what your appetite craves.”
There are thirteen restaurants near campus that will participate in the Off-Campus Dining Network, including Almaza Cafe, Brew-Bacher’s Grill, Louie’s Cafe, Moe’s, Nine Dragon, Roly Poly, Roul Deli and Smoothie King.
The plans works on a “dollar-for-dollar value” at each restaurant, Manderine said. “If you order coffee for $1.50, you only pay $1.50,” he said.
The Off-Campus Dining Network allows money to be transfered from semester to semester. Manderine said the “traditional meal plan” makes money from missed meals.
David Heidke, the director of dining at the Laville Food Emporium, said traditional meal plans, the plans he believes Manderine is referring to, offer a certain amount of meals per week and if students “miss a meal, they lose a meal.”
But Heidke said University meal plans give students flexibility because they have the entire semester to use meals, and they are permitted to use as many as they choose at a time, by “swiping in” friends.
Mark Kraner, the director of Contracted Auxiliary Services, said students who use Tiger Cash will have the same option of dining off-campus, beginning in the fall. Kraner said he still is working out the details, but the restaurants that will be included depend on which restaurants choose to participate.
Kraner said that he does not see the Off-Campus Dining Network becoming a threat or changing the habits of students because students could easily “put money in their checking account and do the same thing.”
He said the retention and satisfaction scores of the students are the highest Campus Dining has had. The percentage of students who live on and off-campus who have meal plans has increased, Kraner said.
Kraner said campus dining plans are flexible because students can eat at the Highland Dining Hall from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. during the week and do meal exchanges at the Tiger Lair over the weekend.
Kraner said the Off-Campus Dining Network is not affiliated with the University.
Although the Off-Campus Dining Network is permitted to advertise to students, it must have permission to use the University’s trademark, Kraner said.
Kraner said the company had issues with trademark infringement at the University of Georgia. Manderine said there were no legal actions or dealings with the University of Georgia.
Manderine said early in the company’s history, it operated under individual campus names such as the “Bulldog Meal,” but they now use the title “Georgia Off-Campus Meal Plan” at the University of Georgia.
“We later found it was clearer to students and more effective to adopt a consistent brand name as Off-Campus Dining Network with location or state school name in front of it,” Manderine said.
For LSU, the meal plan name is the Off-Campus Meal Plan, but for distinction on the Web site it is listed as the Louisiana Off-Campus Meal Plan.
Karen Evens, the shift leader at a Subway in Georgia that is part of the Off-Campus Dining Network, said students who are using the plan come in “all day, everyday.”
Tyler Davis, the owner of a Roly Poly in Georgia, said students come in to use the plan 10 to 15 times a day.
Students can sign up by visiting the Web site www.ocdn.com, calling 1-866-512-DINE, or mailing in an order form from a brochure that can be found at a participating restaurant.