Chartwells launches Nextbite virtual restaurant program at UT-Dallas

Chartwells Higher Education has launched a partnership with delivery-only virtual restaurant company Nextbite to offer five Nextbite brands out of the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) kitchens. It is Nextbite’s first foray into a campus dining program. Starting Jan. 19, on and off campus UTD students and staff can order from five delivery-only Nextbite menus, including Crave Burger, Outlaw Burger, Veg-e-licious Burger, Grilled Cheese Society and The Big Melt through mobile platforms Grubhub, Uber Eats, and DoorDash.

The partnership allows Chartwells to provide students with unique, restaurant-style meal concepts without having to add new kitchen space, as the Nextbite concepts will be operate from existing UTD kitchens while the menu items will utilize the university's existing food and packaging supply chain, allowing for an easy implementation as part of the campus dining program.

UT-Dallas operates one of the most innovative campus dining programs in the country, including deploying a fleet of food delivery robots several years ago.

"Chartwells is excited to be the first partner to expand Nextbite's presence into campus dining, and we look forward to bringing their modern restaurant concepts to our students," comments Chartwells Higher Education CEO Lisa McEuen. "Offering the convenience of delivery through major food delivery apps, innovative new menu options, and the flexibility to work in existing kitchen space makes Nextbite a perfect fit for our campuses."

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The initiative is part of the UTD dining programs cutting-edge approach to campus meal service, which has already experimented with ghost kitchens and is one of the early adopters of robot-based food delivery. Meanwhile, Nextbite is one of the more prominent companies in the fast-growing virtual restaurant world, one in which higher education represent a major potential market and one in which Chartwells is one of the largest providers, operating in more than 300 college and university dining environments throughout the U.S.

"There is a huge opportunity to help colleges and universities maximize their existing dining facilities, and to bring delicious delivery-only menu items to busy, hungry students," notes Nexbite Co-Founder/CEO Alex Canter about the alliance with Chartwells Higher Education. "Thanks to this key partnership with Chartwells, we look forward to expanding our delivery-only menus and innovative ideas to the entire Chartwells campus network throughout 2022."