Convenience is one of the goals of Provisions On Demand, or P.O.D., and its addition of a mobile cart at Mississippi State University aims to offer more convenient options to their customers.
P.O.D. is owned by Aramark, who serves as MSU’s dining and food services contractor. The P.O.D. website states it believes the company can act responsibly by serving the customer and environment to its best ability.
Aramark Marketing Manager Andrea Pichardo said the P.O.D. mobile cart strives to meet these goals.
“We were looking for a way to reach students who might not have time in between classes to have a sit-down lunch,” Pichardo said. “With the P.O.D. Mobile Cart, we’re able to reach students in between classes and they can get a grab-and-go lunch, then head to their next class.”
While P.O.D serves over 200 locations, Aramark serves many more people throughout the globe—it is active in 19 countries. Pichardo said the P.O.D mobile cart is pretty unique, and the student response has been accepting.
“To my knowledge, there have only been a couple at other locations,” Pichardo said. “It’s a fairly new concept, and we are excited to bring it to the Mississippi State campus.”
The P.O.D mobile cart has the ability to go off-road and park on sidewalks, making it more accessible to students. Pichardo said they have planned where they will put the cart on certain days based on the foot traffic in the area. Students can check the location on MSU Dining’s social media accounts.
“We post where it will be on our Twitter @MSUDining. You can also find out more information on Facebook at MSU Dining, or on Instagram @MSUDiningDawgs,” Pichardo said.
Mark Monahan, who operates the P.O.D. Mobile, said there are a few locations garnering more business than others, and he also said there are several ways MSU students can pay for food and drinks at the P.O.D. Mobile Cart.
“We’ve found that the location beside Walker Hall and beside Dorman Hall have been the best. We usually rotate between these two,” Monahan said. “(The P.O.D. Mobile) is open from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. Students can pay with credit or debit card, or by using Flex Dollars on their student ID.”
As far as student feedback about the P.O.D. Mobile Cart, Monahan said it has received a pretty positive reception from students, and Monahan tries to make the experience the best for the students by playing fun music from the cart.
“All the students seem excited about the P.O.D. Mobile Cart. A lot of them ask questions about it or want to take a picture,” Monahan said. “We have a Bluetooth speaker set up on the P.O.D. Mobile Cart, and we try to pick music that students like.”
With it being new, however, there are some adjustments Monahan has had to make, as well as the fact the P.O.D. mobile cannot work in the rain due to potential damage to equipment.
“Since this is a new concept, we learned new things as we were starting,” Monahan said. “We had to set up a wifi extender to make sure that our equipment would work properly. We (also) don’t take the cart out if it is raining. I can’t operate the equipment in the rain.”
As for now, it looks like there will only be one P.O.D. Mobile Cart at MSU, in the midst of other dining changes such as the State Fountain Bakery location change and the addition of OLILO.
“There are no talks of adding another P.O.D. Mobile at this time, but we are always looking to improve and listen to student feedback, so it could be a possibility in the future,” Pichardo said.