Amazon is headed back to college for the new school year.
The company’s cashierless “Just Walk Out” technology is being deployed for the first time by Grubhub as part of the food ordering platform’s Grubhub Campus experience.
Just Walk Out will be used at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore at a store called Bowman Express, which offers freshly prepared foods, beverages, frozen foods, snacks, and convenience store items.
Grubhub partners with 300 higher education institutions and says it is the only food ordering and delivery marketplace that works with campus dining programs. The company — now part of Just Eat Takeaway — competes against DoorDash, Uber Eats and others in restaurant food delivery. It previously partnered with Amazon on a Prime Day promotion offering free, one-year Grubhub+ memberships.
To use Just Walk Out at Loyola, students scan a QR code in the Grubhub app to enter the store. The technology, which relies on an array of overhead cameras and computer vision, detects what shoppers take from or return to the shelves. When customers complete the shopping experience, they leave the store without having to wait in line and the payment will automatically be deducted from their meal plan or other stored payment methods linked to their Grubhub account.
Amazon first debuted Just Walk Out at its Amazon Go convenience stores, and it’s now in use in a variety of locations, including grocery stores, airports, music and sports venues. It debuted in a liquor store for the first time earlier this month in Seattle.
In addition to Loyola, Amazon’s Just Walk Out is in use on several other college campuses in retail settings, including: Marymount University in Arlington, Va.; University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio; Marywood University in Scranton, Pa.; Lafayette College in Easton, Pa.; CSU – Long Beach in Long Beach, Calif.; and the University of Pittsburgh.
Grubhub plans to add Just Walk Out to more food locations at Loyola and on additional campuses across the country during the 2024 school year.
