Wildcatessen serves up new online sub system

So I went down to the TNH office this week and got a pretty decent story assignment. Check out the new online system used to order food at Wildcatessen. They had some problems with the original ordering system as it sometimes missed some things that were placed on order. I was a little nervous, as being a fat kid myself, I would hate for them to miss a part of my order. However, anytime I get to eat food for doing my work, it's the perfect assignment for me.

The first order placed by my roommate and I was made to be nice and easy. Give them a chance to catch their bearings. And give me a chance to eat. A simple steak and American cheese on the standard white sub roll. What is more classic and almost entirely generic than a steak and cheese?

We decided to have a little fun with the second order, since the first one was such a gimme. On the second, my roommate and I started with a basic Italian sub, but messed with everything along the way. First, we switched the type of bread to multigrain, added two types of onions (white and red), black olives, green peppers and lettuce. Also, to make things a little more interesting (and maybe more difficult for the customer), there was no spot to select oil as a condiment on the sub. So at the bottom in a section where you can make notes about your sandwich, I typed oil in, hoping they might have just forgotten to add it.

At the checkout on the title screen of the Internet page, I had to choose what time I wanted to pick up my sandwiches. Interestingly, you can set the time for the future, so if you ordered at 9:00 but didn't want to pick your sandwich up until midnight, you could do that. However, the soonest I could pick it up was half an hour from when I ordered it.

So I waited 15 minutes and left for Wildcatessen to figure out just how efficient the new online system was, arriving five minutes earlier than the estimated time of sandwich completion (ETSC). There was a sign telling people who had an online order to "stand here." So I walked over there, and I have to admit I felt a little bit like a V.I.P. as I walked passed the entire line (as they looked over and scowled at me) waiting for a sub the old-fashion way. If technology cuts down line waiting time, count me in. I'm probably the least patient person in the entire world when waiting for food. I'm not the smallest dude, and even the sight of food just gets me anxious. I also have a tendency to go off on tangents, like I just did right now.

OK, back to me being the V.I.P. and getting to cut everyone. I had to wait about a minute or so for the attendant to finish the order of the person in front of me. However, once he saw me (the V.I.P.) in the online order line, he practically jumped out of his black work pants. I told him who I was, but he already knew. I was the online sandwich V.I.P, and he had already finished my subs, five minutes early mind you, and there was still a line of more than 20 people. But the real test was still coming.

I went home and ripped open the steak and cheese. I didn't just slowly peel the tape off the wrapper and methodically open the wrap. I ripped it open faster than a rabid grizzly bear searching for food in months-old trash bags, or possibly picnic baskets. Remember, I'm a big kid and get anxious waiting for food. The faster you rip it open, the sooner you eat it. It's the law of rapid consumption - be overweight your whole life, you'll understand. Wait sorry, tangent again.

The steak and cheese was made to perfection. The right type of bread, American cheese, and of course, steak. But getting the steak and cheese wrong is comparable to losing on the $100 question on "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?" Sure it happens occasionally, but people with that kind of monumental failure shouldn't have even bothered showing up that day. The real test was in the Italian.

The Italian was for my roommate. I don't like onions. He ordered it with onions. Do you see where I'm going with this? As much as I was hoping they would make the sub without onions so I could steal it and enjoy the onion-free deliciousness, it was made to perfection. There were red and white onions, green peppers, lettuce and black olives all on multi-grain bread. They even got the order for oil that was placed in the notes box. Everything exactly as he ordered.

Although I was disappointed that I only got to eat a steak and cheese, it is clear that the online ordering for Wildcatessen provides a great service. The new and updated system allows accurate, precise and timely orders. And most importantly, it allows big kids like me the opportunity to consume mass amounts of food more quickly. I love technology.