By Anais Hernandez, Feb. 22, 2022
In time for the return of in-person instruction, alumnus Mikel DuBenion (’21, economics) launched HotSpot Lunch on Feb. 14, a budget-friendly food delivery service catering to Cal Poly Pomona students.
HotSpot Lunch provides food delivery services from nearby restaurants like Chick-fil-A, Chipotle, Jinza Teriyaki and JJ’s Boba. Students can order food directly from the HotSpot Lunch website and pick up their food at select pickup locations on campus.
DuBenion had the idea to start a business when he was still a student and wanted to provide more food options for students at a lower cost than other food delivery services.
“The delivery fee is $3.50 plus taxes and a little service fee which ends up being like $4,” said DuBenion. “If you order a chicken burrito from Chipotle through Doordash, it will cost you $18.50 plus a $2 recommended tip, but if you use HotSpot Lunch that burrito will cost you $12.85.”
The process of launching this website has been a rollercoaster for DuBenion. He funded the initial startup fees with his day job salary as a sales analyst, but he has completed most of the coding work with the guidance of friends to save as much money as possible.
After many trials and errors, he launched the company’s website on the first Monday of in-person classes, after announcing the service on the university’s Reddit page.
HotSpot Lunch’s delivery services are available to students Monday through Friday at four drop-off locations: University Village, Centerpointe Dining Hall, University Quad and the Rose Garden. The drop-off times vary anywhere from 12:15 p.m.to 2:30 p.m.
Students must go to hotspotlunch.com, where a map with distinct pickup locations will appear. The customer places their order 45 minutes before the drop-off time, the driver picks up all orders from the restaurant and drops them off simultaneously, helping minimize the cost of the delivery fee for students.
To make delivery services more affordable, DuBenion chose to pay his employees a flat hourly rate, and gratuity for the drivers is not required.
“Drivers get paid $16 an hour, so do distributors and also get compensated for any gas that they use,” stated DuBenion. “I just wanted a system where people consistently knew what they were getting paid — I think that makes everyone happy because customers don’t have to feel obligated to give a tip.”
Luke Craig, a fourth-year economics student and employee at HotSpot Lunch, believes that the compensation he receives from this job is generous.
“What we have aligned is not a tip-based system, so my pay doesn’t come out of any tips. We get paid fairly — a fair price for both the workers and also the people ordering,” said Craig.
Computer science student Daniel Rodriguez heard about this new service through the Cal Poly Pomona subreddit.
“I like that HotSpot Lunch has more food options that you can’t get on campus,” said Rodriguez. “I am considering using it because it’s cheaper and not all of us (students) work and have the money to spend on expensive delivery fees.”
Camille McCurry a food science and technology student, mentioned that she rarely uses delivery services because of the high delivery fees but will consider using HotSpot Lunch because of its convenience.
“The pricing is more expensive than if you were to go there yourself, but at the same time, it’s nowhere near the cost of a service like DoorDash or Postmates,” said McCurry. “It looks like HotSpot Lunch is only going to be a couple of dollars more.”
HotSpot Lunch is also an alternative delivery partner for restaurants because this company is not charging a service fee.
“A lot of times restaurants aren’t making much money off deliveries that are done via DoorDash or Grubhub,” explained DuBenion. “Because of this, I just don’t have a commission fee. Restaurants may keep 100% of what they make through HotSpot Lunch’s website.”
DuBenion mentioned that depending on customer feedback, he is willing to accommodate the service hours most convenient for students.
He also hopes to expand to other universities.
“The plan is to expand to CSU Fullerton, CSU Long Beach and UCI,” said DuBenion. “I think it’s a lot of just listening to customers and seeing what kind of feedback people have. One of the big advantages of being a small startup is since I’ve made most things myself, I can change things very easily and adapt to what customers need and provide people the best service.”
For more information on this service, visit HotSpot Lunch on Instagram or directly on the website.