Concordiensis - A New Way to Eat?

GrubLink Publicity

Written by Guss Firestein

Sunday, November 01 2009 20:14

A New Way to Eat? Union students launch internet restaurant service By: Jill Radwin Posted: 10/29/09 This September marked the official launch of GrubLink.com, a website and marketing company intended to provide college students with information on local restaurants and upcoming concerts near their school. GrubLink is the brainchild of Union students Guss Firestein '11 and Brett Sussman '11 who began work on the company last March. Union College is currently the only school listed on the site, but plans are in the works to expand GrubLink to other colleges in the area including Skidmore, Sienna, Bard, and Vassar. Firestein explains, "The plan is to eventually take this nationally but we need to work out all the kinks first." The GrubLink website offers a variety of features including advertising and promotions for local restaurants and bars, upcoming concerts, and a blog. Restaurants are categorized by type and most include reviews, their menu, hours of operation and contact information. Students can suggest new restaurants or bars on the website's contact page. The site defines itself as a website-based marketing company. It differentiates itself from other similar concepts such as campusfood.com, started by a student at University of Pennsylvania, which are merely networks rather than acutal marketing businesses. GrubLink promotes itself via the website, through the distribution of free T-shirts, and, most recently, with the sale of GrubStub discount cards. "The GrubStub is basically a modern take on coupon books," explains Firestein. "For $3 you get a card that gets you discount specials at all the GrubLink clients. Right now we have about 30 clients and we will be signing on more throughout the year. This is a way for our clients to monitor if the service is working and also provides incentives for students to leave campus and go to our clients' establishment." Some of the GrubStub discounts include 10% off at Aperitivo Bistro, 15% off at Gershons Kosher Deli, a free drink with any purchase at La Gioia Italian Deli, 20% off at Scotia Diner, and several other discounts which are outlined on the GrubLink website. Firestein has sold the GrubStub cards in Reamer twice in the past few weeks and plans to offer them to students a few more times before the end of the term. Although GrubLink is a fairly new enterprise, Firestein reports that about 30 people in the Schenectady area view the site daily. Freddie Dantus '11 is one student who recently started to use GrubLink. "I use the website to see what restaurants will deliver late," she said. "I also bought a GrubStub card this past week and plan to use it at some of the places around here." Another student, Olivia Grubman '11, adds, "I went to Scottis with a big group of girls the other weekend and one of our friends had a GrubStub card. We were able to get 10% off our entire meal which made it worthwhile." Firestein and Sussman found that many businesses were reluctant at first to join GrubLink, especially during the summer months. "A lot of restaurants and bars didn't believe we would follow through with our 'project' at the time, being only a bunch of ambitious college kids, not to mention their utter disappointment with the Dutchmen dollars system that many considered a rip-off," said Sussman. "Being persistent and making multiple phone calls and emails is what eventually led to individual meetings with the managers of each respective place." GrubLink remains a hefty project for both students to uphold since they must update the website on a regular basis. Furthermore, Firestein and Sussman must be in continual contact with clients on which their business relies upon. To find out more, visit grublink.com.