UPDATED: Aug. 27, 2017 at 10:21 p.m.

New meal plan, who’s this?

Good Uncle’s meal plan service is coming to Syracuse earlier than expected and estimated to serve up to 500 students.

With the fall semester finally here, the option of a substitute meal plan is at students’ fingertips. Co-founders Wiley Cerilli and Matt Doumar said it was always in Good Uncle’s mission to create a sustainable, affordable and convenient meal plan for Syracuse University students.

There are three plans: “Good Uncle 2” priced at $22.00, “Good Uncle 4” priced at $44.00 or “Good Uncle” 7 priced at $77.00 in credits weekly. The Good Uncle meal also gifts free credits for each plan. The 7, for example, includes $130.00 in credits free.

“We priced our meal plans considerably lower than other options so they could replace or be combined with smaller university plans while saving students, and their parents, money,” Cerilli said in an email.

The idea of credits was designed in a way that if they don’t get used at once, they can roll over to the next week.

Students are prepaying for the meals in the semester, Doumar said. The credits are money that can be spent on Good Uncle and can be loaded on an account each week.

“I don’t want to have to pay $2,000 for five meals a week that aren’t even that good,” junior information management and technology major Camila Bencosme said.

Good Uncle unveiled a new meal plan lineup at the beginning of the fall semester. Meal plan members enjoy free delivery, healthy and tasty food options that change monthly, and a late night closing time of 3 a.m., to name a few. Good Uncle will also be including a greek house meal plan where greek housemates can build collective plans for their house.

Doumar, Cerilli, a few interns and Katie Perkins, head of marketing, spent the summer finalizing the plan.

“We worked on developing more healthy items such as healthy wraps. Ultimately the students inspired this,” Doumar said.

Good Uncle serves options for vegans, vegetarians and meat-eaters alike.

The app also received a makeover. Good Uncle’s engineering team integrated the Meal Plan Member into the app. This update in the app store is making changes for Grubhub as well, which no longer lets customers order through the website.

“If there was an alternative meal plan, I’d try it,” Bencosme said. “A Good Uncle meal plan sounds really good.”

Good Uncle hopes to continue to expand by the end of the semester. One goal among many is to develop to the point where anyone who wants to join the meal plan can do so.

“Our overall goal is to provide delicious, healthy, as well as indulgent food in a highly convenient, affordable manner,” Doumar said.

The story has been updated for appropriate style.

Published on August 27, 2017 at 9:34 pm

Contact Leah: ltoney@syr.edu