A new student-run service is looking to bring Chipotle burritos to those who are wrapped up in their studies.
Burritos2Bartle was founded last month by Patrick Diederich, a senior majoring in industrial and systems engineering. His company accepts online orders via credit card or Bitcoin every weekday. The order must be placed on its website, Burritos2Bartle.com, before 4 p.m. and the organizers deliver the orders to the Glenn G. Bartle lobby to be picked up between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Diederich’s team consists of Luke Gorman, a sophomore majoring in finance; Reginald Carrion, a freshman majoring in industrial and systems engineering; and Jen Howard, a freshman majoring in psychology. They met through the ski club, and when Diederich pitched his idea to others in the club they were quick to join in.
He said the project developed quickly, going from a discussion three weeks ago to a functioning program within a few days.
“We really tried getting the ball rolling as fast as we could,” Gorman said. “Once we knew what we were doing, we just started moving quickly.”
The business model started out on a different track. As part of his senior design project, Diederich piloted Running Wegs. Running Wegs was to be a delivery service for Wegmans that catered mainly to fraternity houses. However, Diederich said he realized Chipotle was where the demand was.
“We changed it up from a delivery on demand business model to a scheduled [delivery] business model,” Diederich said.
As it stands, the total markup is $2.50, with a $1.70 profit per sale. The remainder covers costs like the large insulated delivery bag where burritos wait for their purchasers to pick them up.
Amelia Tomaras, a service manager at Chipotle, said the idea was beneficial to both the organizers and the Mexican food chain.
“We really appreciate the extra business,” she said. “We always love getting more business from students.”
The business is still in an experimental phase. Initially, the plan was to deliver at lunchtime, but they discovered that the cutoff time was too early for most people to order, and the cutoff was changed from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and again to 4 p.m, which is the current deadline.
“It makes it a lot easier to order this way,” Howard said. “I would wake up and think ‘I want Chipotle’ but it would already be past 1 p.m.”
In the library’s online list of rules, both full meals and food deliveries are listed as forbidden activities. However, the lobby is not considered part of the library and organizers say they have not faced any trouble.
Currently, cash payments are not accepted since Diederich said the rules on money changing hands in the library and campus are unclear.
Andrew Koven, a junior majoring in economics, also said he thinks that the campaign is great.
“Students are taking initiative to help out their fellow students, as well as make a profit,” Koven said. “It’s a win-win.”