MORE on how it works...

At most Universities, students can either be on a BLOCK or WEEKLY PLAN. If meals go unused they expire weekly or sem/trimesterly. Here are 3 examples:

• George Fox University

• Stanford

• Pacific University

Universities may sell meals wholesale for $10 (avg) each if you walk in the cafeteria like a normal customer. 

Students with a meal plan simply swipe their ID card and enter the caf. 

It is surprisingly easy for a weekly meal plan to go unused and expire...

• Say a student went home for the weekend = a meal unused

• Say a student slept in and missed breakfast = a meal unused

• Say a student went Skiing or to the beach for the day = a meal unused

• Some universities require that all Freshman be on a meal plan.

SCALE/ MARKET SIZE EXAMPLE: 

• Say 500 freshmen (a low # for larger state schools) on a 19 meals a week miss 1 meal uneaten a week. 

• At a standard school with 16 week semesters that is 16 weeks * 2 semesters * 500 students * 1 per meal missed  week = 16,000 prepaid annual meals paid-for, wasted, and uneaten; at ONE university!

• For 500 students at 1 university: 16k * $5 (meal resale value) * 5% (app fee) = $4,000.

In addition to eating at the caf, students can usually order to-go orders for pickup using their prepaid swipes from a University Cafeteria mobile app similar to DoorDash pickup but for the specific school. This is where SwipeShare steps in to save students money and reduce food waste.

SwipeShare's expanded 5 step process, 

1.  Sellers list how many meals they have available for sale. The app aggregates these and distributes them to buyers on a first come first serve basis as each swipe is the same price and product; the only difference is order customization

2. The buyer student selects their order in SwipeShare on a display that mirrors the university order app. 

• The order is then shared with the seller when confirmed

3. The seller student orders the order for pickup from the university meal provider using the sellers meal swipe(s) and lets the buyer know when the order is ready for pickup

4. The buyer picks up order and confirms order pick-up

5. The buyer is charged a flat rate and the seller gets the flat rate less an app service fee