Food of the Future

Millard brings Ravigoli food program to high schools

Long lines are a problem any school has to deal with, lunch lines especially. To correct this, Millard has implemented a new online food order service: Ravigoli.

Ravigoli is an online food ordering platform for K-12 school cafeterias. Adopting the popular method that fast-food restaurants like Pizza Hut and Domino’s use, Ravigoli allows students to order both their breakfast and lunch on their phones. It allows students to select in advance what they would like to eat and have it ready once they have arrived at the cafeteria.

“We’ve experimented with a Grab N’ Go breakfast model at other schools where we take meals to other areas of the building and serve during passing period,” Head of the Millard District Food Department Justin Wiley said.

As those initial experiments were successful, the full Ravigoli program has been implemented at Millard West High School.

“It’s pretty cool that I can order my food before I go to the cafeteria. I used to spend almost half of my lunch just getting my food,” Millard West Junior Reed Hofer said.

As of now, the selections available are a multitude of sandwiches and salads.

“When it comes time for pickup, the student still has access to all the options. They can go through the fruit and vegetable bar at no additional cost. When they are ready to go, they finish the transaction at no additional cost,” Wiley said.

The implementation of the service at Millard West has led the district to begin to expand the program to both MN and Millard South. The login for Ravigoli has been distributed to every Millard student’s email and use of the program has been made free. Several students have used the service ever since it debuted at MN.

“I absolutely love it. You order online on the app, and then during the craziness of lunch, you walk in, grab your meal and walk out. There’s no waiting in line, no stopping to pay, no getting cut by rude people. And it’s tasty too,” senior Joseph Roth said.

While desire for the service at the middle school level has been heard, as of right now the program is only at the high school level.

“My goal for the program is that it would draw 10-15% of the student body to using this on a daily basis. Ideally this ratio would shorten the lines in the main serving lines and create a shorter wait time for all students,” Wiley said.

While Ravigoli has only been implemented this year, the idea has been discussed for six. At the time, current technology setbacks had prevented Millard from going digital. Two years ago, the Millard Food Service decided to address those obstacles.

“There was no backbone structure for the program to exist. Once we brainstormed all the components of the students’ and the kitchens’ needs, the app was built fairly quickly,” Wiley said.

As the rollout of Ravigoli was finally completed, Wiley and the Millard School Board are now analyzing the use of the program. With the initial online infrastructure being built, Wiley continues to work to improve Millard Food Services.