This fall brought many changes to the University of Rhode Island’s Kingston campus, including new alterations to how people can receive and enjoy their food.
New Just Baked food kiosks have been installed in the 24-hour room in Robert L. Carothers Library, Keaney Gymnasium and the Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences building, the last of which is complemented with a Starbucks coffee machine. Brought to campus by Jo-Anna Stephens, associate administrator for Dining Services, these machines have the ability to cook and serve hot food to a user in a matter of minutes.
“This is awesome new technology that I first saw at a food conference a year ago,” Stephens said. “It’s taken almost a year to purchase these three innovative machines.”
The primary purpose of installing these kiosks is a way to combat food deserts that are on campus, Stephens said.
“You’re looking for something to eat, there’s no restaurants around, or you’re studying all night in the 24-hour room when everything else is closed,” Stephens said. “You come here and get a hot meal.”
The machines are linked to an app that allows students to order ahead of time and pick up their food on their own time, paying with either a credit card or funds from their RAM account.
“This is being tested out,” Stephens said. “We may not keep them in all of the locations they are in right now…If this is a success, then we’d love to put it in some of the dorms.”
The kiosks are able to store 64 items and are typically restocked twice a day, Stephens said. The food is stored on the left side of the machine, which is its refrigeration unit. When selected, an item will move over to the right side, where it is heated up and then dispensed a few minutes later.
There have also been changes implemented in the dining halls. Coca-Cola soda machines, cups and beverages at the Corner Store, which have been on campus for over the past decade, have now all been replaced with Pepsi products. Pierre St-Germain, the director of Dining Services, oversaw this change.
The switch to Pepsi was part of a request for proposal process that occurs every five years, St-Germain said. The process involves a bidding war between Coca-Cola and PepsiCo to see who distributes their products to certain locations.
URI is not alone in making this change away from Coca-Cola, St-Germain said. Other locations across Rhode Island, such as government buildings, have also switched over to hosting Pepsi products.
“Fifteen years ago Pepsi had it,” St-Germain said. “Twelve years ago we did the RFP and Coke won it from Pepsi. Coke was with the school up until this point. We go through the RFP process again, Pepsi wins.”
Despite this change, St-Germain said that there has not been much negative feedback from students when it came to the transition.
“There are some things the students are very excited about, some things they’re less excited about,” St-Germain said. “The least appealing thing is the actual Pepsi versus Coke. Almost everything else they seem to like.”
The kiosks can be found in the aforementioned locations across campus and can be checked on the Just Baked app to see what food options are currently available.