Starting in October, students will no longer be required to make an arduous journey or even pick up a telephone, in order to get a great meal in Hyde Park. The University chapter of Alpha Phi Omega (APO), a community service fraternity, is helping sponsor the University’s participation in a website, www.campusfood.com, that will place many popular Hyde Park restaurants online. The site features menus from restaurants such as Pockets, The Nile, Rajun Cajun, Piccolo Mondo, and Leona’s, and allows students to order food directly from the website. Students who order within the first 20 days even get free food just for placing an order.

The fraternity won the right to promote the website through a contest. While different from the typical community service project, APO believes that the website will provide a valuable service to students. “It simplifies the process of ordering out,” said Dave Munson, President of APO. “It’s great for those nights when you can’t find the Noodles menu and you don’t have to remember phone numbers or worry about keeping menus around.”

If the trial period proves successful, the fraternity would like to have every Hyde Park restaurant participate in the program. “The service is great for students who don’t have time to place orders, and helps makes sure that orders aren’t placed incorrectly, and that students receive deliveries even faster,” said Caitlin Hudac, the Fundraising chair of APO.

However, not all restaurants are excited about placing their services online. “We have attempted online ordering services in the past and found that they did not work well,” said Kristen Esterley, the General Manager of Medici, an extremely popular Hyde Park restaurant.

Although the website won’t be up until the first week in October, it has already created a stir on campus. APO will be advertising the opening of the website during the first few weeks of October.