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Everything you should know about meal plans

Pierce Dining Hall

Stevens only has one dining hall, Pierce. It’s on the second floor of the Howe Center, and features incredible views of the Manhattan skyline. It’s an easy place to sit for hours with friends. You can easily grab pizza, the daily entrees, made-to-order hot or cold sandwiches, salads, pasta, omelets, breakfast food, and more. But if you’re pressed for time and know what you want to eat, you can also exchange your meal swipe at the following on-campus dining locations.

Colonel John’s

CJ’s is a student favorite, serving all-day breakfast, specialty burgers, and hot sandwiches. Last semester, they introduced a new concept on the right of the registers called “Sono,” which serves Chipotle-style burritos and burrito bowls. In previous semesters, that corner was occupied by an Asian takeout-style food section but allegedly it wasn’t too authentic or fresh.

America’s Cup / Red & Gray Cafe

Acup and Red & Gray are the two main cafes on campus. Both serve a modified Starbucks menu and bakery items from the campus catering service. Acup has a fresh salad and sandwich bar, while Red and Grey has a variety of ready-to-eat paninis, sandwiches, and easy grab and go items. Both cafes are popular among students to grab meals between classes. 

Pierce Cafe

Pierce Cafe was added a year or so ago, and is located right outside of Pierce Dining Hall. For that reason, not many students find it worthwhile, but many of the folks that work in Howe find it useful. However, it has a nice, quiet seating area for group meetings, and smoothies and other specialty drinks to sample with your Pierce swipe.

Gateway Academic Center Cafe

The Gateway Academic Center has been under construction for months, closing off the 6th Street entrance to campus. Finally, this fall, the building is supposedly opening and with a new cafe! What will be sold there beats me, but you can be sure it will accept meal exchange!

WSW and Duckbills

WSW stands for “Washington Street Wednesdays.” If you have an on-campus meal plan, then once a week on Wednesday you’re able to exchange a meal swipe for a meal at one of five locations in Hoboken. It’s a great mid-week motivator, not having to spend additional money on real people food.

But when you really want to get a taste of the delicious food Hoboken has to offer, your ID card can hold Duckbills, the Stevens version of money. There are a ton of locations in Hoboken where you can use Duckbills, and many of them offer special deals and discounts when you show your ID.

Mobile Ordering with Tapingo

Tapingo (pronounced like flamingo), a free app on both the App Store and Play Store, was launched last semester at Colonel John’s, America’s Cup, Red & Gray, and Pierce Cafe. As an online and mobile food ordering service, Tapingo allows students, faculty, and staff to remotely order food at all retail locations on campus and have their meals ready upon arrival.
Upon downloading and logging into Tapingo with a myStevens account, users have their meal plan and/or Duckbills integrated into the app for use. Credit or debit cards can also be added for purchases outside of the meal exchange system. After placing an order on their mobile device, users receive an ETA for their meal pick-up, followed a short time later by a phone notification stating that the order is ready. Completed orders have a yellow ticket attached with the buyer’s name and order number listed, and can be retrieved at labeled pick-up areas near the current cashier stations at retail locations. It’s a great way to avoid the between-meal-periods traffic!

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