One consistent feature at every college campus is the prominence of food culture. Especially when students don’t know each other yet, grabbing food is a great, casual way to chat and make connections with potential friends. Countless local delivery apps such as Postmates, Ubereats, and Doordash have become incredibly popular among these food-loving college students. Especially during COVID, students are eager to use these apps to avoid long lines at restaurants. One relatively new app, Snackpass, has taken this trend in a unique direction. I had the opportunity to chat with their Growth Marketing Manager, Claudia Haimovici:
What is your position at Snackpass?
The official title of my position is Growth Marketing Manager, which means I focus on all brand-related work. I work closely with our stellar launch managers and account executives to execute marketing campaigns for each Snackpass region by sending push notifications for specific promotions, emails, overseeing social media, or building and running our campus team program. A highlight of each day is getting to meet college students like you!
In your words, can you describe what Snackpass is?
Yes, for sure! So basically, Snackpass is a mobile order food app that allows you to order ahead, skip the line, and get discounts on your food. We’re currently primarily partnered with restaurants in several college towns, but we are working to continue expanding. With that being said, our app is available to everyone, not just college students, though we think it provides extra convenience to the busy college student demographic. Snackpass actually has a meal plan service where parents can load money into students’ accounts periodically, which is especially useful for the many students living in off-campus apartments right now due to COVID-19. Students can spend this in-app credit at any of our partnering restaurants. We currently have over 70 in just Berkeley!
How did Snackpass get started?
Snackpass was started by two undergraduate students at Yale in 2017. The students were friends with local restaurant owners. They wanted to help restaurants and drive more business to these mom-and-pops in New Haven. They decided to develop an app that would provide solutions to common issues that may cause students to avoid eating at local restaurants, including skipping the lines and ordering ahead, among other conveniences. Just a few months after our app launched, 80% of Yale was on the app!
How and why did you get involved with Snackpass?
I’ve always loved food, I have been a foodie for as long as I remember, and I spend large portions of my time scrolling through food videos, talking about food, and trying new restaurants. In college, I decided to channel this love by joining a food publication. At this point, everyone in my life knew about how much I enjoyed food culture, and a family friend who interned at a venture capital firm investing in Snackpass introduced me to the company. I went through a lengthy interview process and was ecstatic when I found out I got the job because I saw such potential in Snackpass, and loved the founders, Kevin, Jamie, and Jonathan. Since I joined the company around a year ago, we’ve tripled in size!
What would you say differentiates Snackpass from other food apps?
I’d say one of the most unique features of Snackpass is that it has a social aspect where friends can send points to one another, which is both fun and a bonding opportunity. Along with this, we’re obviously also very restaurant friendly, and we specialize in pickup, which is much more sustainable than a delivery system most other apps use.
How many users do you guys currently have and what is the main demographic?
Our main demographic at the moment is obviously college students since we’ve chosen eleven college towns as our starting target locations. We already have 200,000 users (20,000 of which are in the Berkeley area!). By this fall, we aim to launch at four new campuses, bringing our campus number to fifteen!
What is your favorite thing about Snackpass?
Definitely the Snackpass team, including the people who work at the headquarters, the ambassadors, and, of course, our wonderful Snackpass-ers, who genuinely create the spirit and brand of Snackpass!
What’s the best/funniest memory you’ve had involving Snackpass?
There are so many to choose from, but I’d definitely have to say one of the on-the-road promo events we did. We’ve handed out 1,000 free acai bowls at UPenn, 750 Pad Thais at Dartmouth, and so much more. Every event is absolutely chaotic but it’s so much fun because the students are always so excited and high-energy.
What are some updates/expansions to Snackpass we can look forward to in the near future?
Everyone should definitely look forward to the new restaurants we are currently working on partnering with, many of which are in Berkeley, along with the updates coming to our app! Our engineers have been hard at work in improving user experience, and one update I’m particularly looking forward to is the expansion of our social element that will allow more opportunities to interact with friends on Snackpass!
Anything else you’d like to include?
I’d just like to say thank you to both our Snackpass-ers and restaurant partners! You truly make the brand, and we are always so grateful for the support you show us. Our main goal as a company is to make both our restaurant partners and Snackpass-ers happy!
Snackpass is available for free download on both the App Store and the Google Play store. To find out more information about the app, check out Snackpass on Instagram at @snackpass and on Youtube. Use codes “munchies” or “cal2024” when you sign up to receive a $5 credit and an assortment of exclusive deals!