Tapingo Cuts Waiting Time for Cafe Food

If you are hungry but too busy to wait in a long line at the cafeteria, Tapingo may be your solution.

Tapingo, an app that allows people on the Fresno City College campus to order meals through their smartphones, could cut your waiting time to nothing. Yes, it’s that easy, or is it?

Patrons can view the whole menu and then place their orders either through the app or on tapingo.com.

Anita Handy, the food service director at the cafeteria, explained how the app works.

“We’re trying to use it so if students or staff are busy, and they don’t want to wait in the long line,” Handy said. “All they have to do is get online; we get it and then prepare their food.”

According to Handy, with Tapingo, you should be able to get online and order. Most of the time, however, the app doesn’t always work properly because the Wi-Fi on campus has connectivity issues.

Another reason people are hesitant to use Tapingo is because of trust concerns of putting their credit card information online.

“It’s easy, but some people do not want to put their credit card online like that, because that’s what you’re going to have to do,” Handy said. “A lot of people think it’s not safe.”

Most students said they had never heard of Tapingo.

John Ball and Ryan Busby, both 27-year-old students music major, were shocked to find out there was such a service at FCC.

“A timesaver between classes. You can type in your order, come pick it up real quick, and be on your way,” Busby said.

“You can text in your order earlier which saves you time in line,” Ball added.

David Saldate, a 20-year-old medical science major, was the only student who knew about the app. Saldate, however, said he chose not to download it.

“It was posted over in the cafeteria,” Saldate said, but did not see the need for it.

The app is free and is only used in the Campus Cafe, across the bookstore.