Bronco runners, bringing food to you
By Emily Entress
When you see the new red tricycles careening through campus carrying steaming bags of Bronco food in their basket, move out of their way; these are no ordinary deliveries!They are the Bronco runners, delivery boys and girls from Bronco Student Services who work hard to bring late night snacks straight from the ovens of the Bronco to the waiting hands of students in their dorm rooms.
That's right, this year Bronco Student Services (BSS) has paired up with Bon Appetit to bring the BSS delivery service to Santa Clara students.The service extends throughout campus to all dorms, excluding St. Clare's, likely due to its sheer distance from the main center of campus.
"It's a pretty simple system," said co-founder Arthur Gallanter, "The students place the order online, get a receipt, and we deliver the fresh food to their dorm room!" In fact, the link to the delivery service is located on Bon Appetit's website, directing students to an online menu and order form. The best part, according to Gallanter, is that students can use their Benson meal points to pay for the delivered food.
Gallanter and co-founder Anthony Prieto came up with the idea of a food delivery service in a class during their freshman year of college, and after working on a few projects together they were able to come up with a feasible business plan and put it into action.
Together, they purchased the BSS company from a Santa Clara alumni who started the program a few years ago but was unable to sustain it from his home in Santa Cruz. One of the major questions that BSS has to answer is whether or not there will be a high enough demand for a delivery service.In order to gauge the demand, BSS launched a trial run of their delivery service last spring, offering the delivery service to only Swig, Dunne, McLaughlin and Walsh.
"Sometimes it was really busy, but sometimes there was like half an hour without any orders," said Chaitali Gohel, one of the seven employees who worked with BSS during the trial period. "At times there were a lot of orders coming in, but there were only two people to deliver to four dorms."
Gohel, a graduate business student who served as a Bronco Runner last spring, commented on how impressed she was with the way Gallanter and Prieto were managing the new business. Their organization and dedication to working out the kinks may be the reason she foresees a growth in business, especially now that they will be serving the whole campus.
Luckily for the business, the kinks were kept to a minimum.According to Joanna Sotomura, also a delivery girl during the spring trial system, the online system was a little confusing at first and caused a few hiccups, but that is to be expected in any new system. Her only concern is whether there will be enough Bronco Runners to satiate the demand of the campus.
"I remember a few Tuesday nights where we had like fifty orders in one night, which was a lot for just two runners," Sotomura recalled.Hopefully with the addition of one more runner there will be enough people to keep up with the demand of the student body. The biggest hurdle to overcome during the start up process was creating the initial partnership with Bon Appetit, Gallanter said. As it turns out, however, Bon Appetit was on the verge of starting an online ordering system, though it would have required students to still come pick up their orders from the Bronco.
"We are so appreciative of the Bon Appetit team, especially Jane Bryant and Fabio Soto, for working with our ideas," said Gallanter. "Without them, it never would have been possible to create this business."Full service will begin October 11. For ordering and more information visit www.broncoss.com.
Contact Emily Entress at eentress@scu.edu or (408) 554-4546.