A new version of the popular free food discovery app Lunch Box will soon be available.
The Lunch Box app lists clubs, businesses and organizations that are holding events and offering free food to college students. Information is also available from Lunch Box’s website, universitylunchbox.com.
One of the features of the upcoming version of the app is notifications, which will enable users to set reminders for events. Users will also be able to text from the app and invite other people to events featured on Lunch Box.
The app will also offer the ability to follow specific clubs and food. This means users will know when their favorite organizations are having events. Users will know when their favorite types of food will be offered by organizations and businesses around where they live.
Chase Roberts and David Hepworth, BYU students and founders of Lunch Box, have expanded and seen usage of their services greatly increase since Lunch Box’s launch.
Lunch Box first launched at BYU in March 2013. In July, service expanded to BYU–Idaho and then to other schools such as Utah Valley University and the University of Utah.
Lunch Box hopes to expand to schools like Carnegie Mellon University, Utah State University, Harvard and Stanford.
“Really, we’re just trying to build a strong community within the campus,” Hepworth said. “We get to help (students) discover what there is out there. It’s a fun way to build awareness of events on campus. Plus, who doesn’t like free food?”
Many students have discovered Lunch Box and, through it, different organizations around BYU and Provo. During the summer, there were around 250 daily uses of the website. Three days into BYU’s fall 2013 semester, however, there were well over 1,000 uses of Lunch Box.
Since Lunch Box’s launch in March, almost 10,000 people have used it.
“My experience with (Lunch Box) has been nothing but incredible,” said John Fife, a junior from Manti studying public health/public science. “My friends can all attest that I use it almost on a daily basis. Saving money and getting a great meal while learning about cool clubs is awesome.”
Club officials can receive publicity and discounts on food by having their clubs listed on the app.
Kassie Herbst, an exercise science major from McCall, Idaho, was president of BYU’s Pre-Pharmacy Club last year. The app was the only form of promotion the club used. Soon attendance doubled.
“A lot of the students who came (to club functions) were interested in pharmacy, and I’m sure that a lot of them discovered the club through the app,” Herbst said.
The new version of the app should be available before mid-October on devices running iOS and Android.
