Student entrepreneurs bring efficient, affordable service to campus

In response to growing concerns over Grubhub robot delivery services, Notre Dame engineering students Patrick McFarland and Davide W. Thompson founded CARI, a food delivery company run by students, for students. Providing personal, cheap, and reliable service, CARI has grown rapidly in its first year of operation.

In 2019, the university began offering the Grubhub app as part of its Campus Dining program, an initiative that gave easy access to both on and off campus restaurants to members of the Notre Dame community. In the spring of 2023, food services grew to include the Grubhub Starship robots, which bring autonomous delivery to customers for an extra charge. 

Since the arrival of these bots, students have shown mixed reactions. Concerned by high prices, inconsistencies in delivery, and a vanishing old school, pedestrian culture on-campus, many have expressed frustration. 

In an interview with the Rover, the founders shared their story and explained the mission of CARI. 

“I had a bad experience with the Grubhub robot where it pulled away with my food,” said McFarland. “We both had tried to use DoorDash, but it would go to Main Circle every time, and kind of defeat the purpose of ordering food. And I was like, ‘Let’s bring the jobs back to students. We’re both engineers, we can make it happen.’”

The first semester, the team launched a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) of their app, taking orders from two dorm restaurants. They began offering their services on a free trial, delivering the food for the price of pickup. Originally, McFarland and Thompson took all the delivery orders themselves, but the company has since grown to include 15 drivers and six salesmen.

Active since September of 2024, CARI has partnered with 15 restaurants and processed over 900 delivery orders. According to the founders, they are the “only campus delivery service offering a hub for all things campus dining, including dorm restaurants, on-campus spots, off-campus favorites, and Eddy Street spots at cheaper prices.”

CARI’s business strategy of efficiency and reliability solves the problems many have experienced with the Grubhub robots. According to McFarland, over 60 percent of college students report frustrations with robots blocking pathways or delivering food on delayed schedules. CARI guarantees a delivery time of less than 15 minutes, much faster than the typical 30 to 60 minute wait of other delivery services.

CARI has no surge pricing, giving college students an affordable delivery service cheaper than both the robots and off campus services. It also provides universities with an alternative to spending millions on robot delivery.

McFarland explained, “To implement robots, a maintenance system, a team, and a pretty dissatisfactory product is a problem, and all the other big brands like DoorDash, Grubhub, and UberEats don’t cater effectively to campus ecosystems. So we wanted to bring that service to campuses in an affordable way that benefits students in every way.”

But, as McFarland and Thompson pointed out, CARI is much more than a good business plan. Their method of delivery complements the culture of Notre Dame’s campus, promoting student jobs and personal interactions. 

“By employing fellow students as delivery runners, CARI directly empowers students while strengthening campus communities. … The trust of having a classmate or fellow student deliver your food can’t be undervalued.”

The university has voiced concern in recent years about the diminishing pedestrian culture on campus. In December of 2023, the Executive Office of the Vice President enforced a ban of all personal electric vehicles in an email to Notre Dame faculty and students, saying, “The proliferation of mechanized vehicles on campus is inconsistent with the pedestrian character of campus we have tried to preserve.” Many student criticisms of the Grubhub robots are founded on the same sentiment, citing the annoyance of navigating around the robots and the ugliness of the machines. 

McFarland also commented on the aesthetic effect of the robots: “The pedestrian problem is definitely part of what we’re trying to solve. We have a beautiful, historic, traditional campus and it’s littered with these tacky robots everywhere that bump into people. And if you could just replace that job where students are getting paid, they’re getting exercise, and it is a somewhat greener solution—because your people are just biking, rather than a battery robot—it’s kind of a no-brainer.”

McFarland added, “Other schools we’ve talked to that are looking to implement our system are also seriously concerned about the pedestrian problem—that robots are pretty much the only other alternative. Students are bothered … students who have disabilities are not taken care of.”

CARI is currently growing its network of restaurant services in the Notre Dame community and is in the process of expanding to other college campuses. The CARI delivery app is available for free on the app store. Reach out to pmcfarl2@nd.edu or dthomp24@nd.edu if you would like your restaurant or school implemented in CARI’s services. 

Lucy Spence is a sophomore from northern Virginia majoring in the Program of Liberal Studies and piano performance. She’s planning on starting a food delivery business that employs the overly-corpulent campus squirrels. To invest, contact her at lspence@nd.edu. 

Photo Credit: CARI

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