How to Obtain Food Around Campus

Authors: Aadarsh Vavilikolanu, Andrew Wang

1) Introduction

Understanding and navigating the different food options provided on campus is integral to every Georgia Tech student, especially newer students. Adequate food and nutrition is vital to a successful on-campus experience, and understanding the different options that are available before each semester can help you plan out what options work best with your diet, budget, schedule, and preferences, so that you can be more secure in your food choices. 

In this guide, we provide a detailed overview on how to access and use the different on-campus and off-campus food options around Georgia Tech, with further information pertaining to the cost, availability, location, and more about each option. 

2) Table of Contents

2.1) Guide Navigator

To get you started, select an option based on what type of dining you are looking for:

• Cooking
• Eating on Campus
• Eating off Campus

3) Obtaining Groceries

One of the healthiest, most budget efficient, and flexible options is to make food yourself, provided you have a kitchen. To do so, it’s important to know about the different grocery options on and around campus. A quick overview of your closest potential options are the following:

1. East Campus: Publix @ The Plaza Midtown, Whole Foods
2. West Campus: Publix @ Atlantic Station, Target

All of the above options will allow you to obtain produce (at similar prices), with the west campus options being larger stores with slightly more options, while being slightly farther from campus. In addition, for west campus options, there is a Lidl that’s planning to be opened at the Interlock Tower on Northside Dr. some time soon in the future. 

Grocery stores allow you to get food pertaining to your dietary preferences and restrictions, and are relatively cheap and healthy ways to do so. In addition, meal prep strategies can be used to ease the workload required by cooking food yourself.  

4) Eating On-Campus Foods

As an alternative to making food, on-campus options can provide a more convenient means to obtain food. There are a few main options for food on campus, specifically the dining halls, restaurants/food trucks, and food banks.

4.1) Dining Halls

Georgia Tech’s on-campus dining halls are a way to conveniently eat food, without having to stress about making food yourself. There are two main dining halls at Georgia Tech: North Ave Dining Hall and West Village Dining Hall, located at east and west campus respectively. These dining halls provide food of all types, so students with dietary restrictions can generally still find something to eat at these dining halls. The reliability of these dining halls make them a good option for anyone seeking a regular dining option on campus. 

4.1.1) Meal Plans

While a meal can be purchased at the door (Breakfast: $10.25, Lunch: $13.25, Dinner: $16.75), a more efficient option for Georgia Tech students is to either purchase meal swipes or dining dollars. 

• Meal swipes allow students to obtain a set bulk amount of meals for a discounted price. 
• Dining Dollars are sales tax exempt funds that can be used at Tech Dining locations, including on-campus dining halls and restaurants. 

More information about both options can be found at https://dining.gatech.edu/meal-plans/meal-plan-101, and more information about the dining halls can be found at https://dining.gatech.edu/dining-locations/dining-halls. 

You can use this breakdown to see which meal plan suits you and your needs.

4.1.2) Meal Plan Choice Guide

• Do you want to eat at dining halls?
  • Do you plan to use dining halls for almost all your meals?
    • Purchase everyday unlimited meal swipes.
  • Do you plan to use dining halls for almost all your weekday meals?
    • Purchase weekday unlimited meal swipes.
  • Do you want to eat at dining halls for only some of your meals and on-campus restaurants for others?
    • Purchase meal pass (Options: 50/100/150/200).
• Do you not want to eat at dining halls?
  • Do you want to eat at on-campus restaurants?
    • Purchase dining dollars (Options: 50/100/200/400/600).

4.1.3) Meal Plan Resources

• Link to purchase meal plans:
  • Go to mealplan.gatech.edu/marketplace.
• Link to view meal plan balance and purchase more dining dollars:
  • Go to https://eacct-buzzcard-sp.transactcampus.com/buzzcard/.

4.2) On-Campus Restaurants

In addition to dining halls, Georgia Tech also has a host of on-campus restaurants (which you can also use dining dollars on). These are the main categories of on-campus restaurants:

1. Campus Retail –  A diverse array of eating locations (including restaurants such as Dunkin’ and Jimmy John’s), located all around campus.Student Center –  A central hub on campus with numerous restaurants, ranging from Tech Dining-based restaurants to fast food restaurants (such as Chick-fil-A and Panda Express). 
2. Food Trucks –  A set of mobile eateries that can be found in various locations around campus (but generally centered around Tech Green). Note that these are generally only available during lunch time. 
3. Community Market – A set of stations offering various local cuisines of food, available Wednesday 10am-2pm at the Skiles Walkway and Thursday 10am-2pm at the Centergy Plaza. 

These options, all combined, provide a ton of food options, with options for everyone regardless of dietary restrictions. However, note that some of these options are only available during lunch time and during certain days, so they are not as reliable as dining halls. Overall, on-campus restaurants are a good option for students desiring occasional convenient eating options on campus.  

More information about these options can be found at https://dining.gatech.edu/ in the “Dining Locations” section. 

4.3) Food Banks

Klemis Kitchen is Georgia Tech’s on-campus food bank, for students with a need for frequent and ongoing access to food. There are four locations on campus: one at the Bioquad, one at CULC 489, one at Grace House, and one at the Student Center. While the first two locations require Buzzcard access (which can be requested here), the other two are open to the entire campus. Klemis Kitchen can be an affordable option for students facing food insecurity, but may not be the most reliable option, especially for students with dietary restrictions. 

5) Eating Off-Campus Foods

For students planning to live off-campus, it may be important to know your food options outside campus. Apart from groceries, there are a lot of restaurant options around campus. Here are the two main areas with restaurants close to campus:

1. Tech Square and Midtown – A large amount of restaurants are located here, with all sorts of options.
2. Home Park and Westside Provisions – There are numerous restaurants around this area, with a lot of fast food options. 

In both areas, there are various dining options for people with dietary restrictions of all kinds. In addition, many of these options are open until late. However, note that this is the most expensive and most unhealthy option, so should only be done in moderation.

Here is a map to visualize geographically some of the recommended off-campus options for students.

Further, here a chart breaking down the types of some recommended off-campus options for students.

6) Considering Transportation

When considering different food options on and around campus, transportation is essential to understand what food options work best for you. There are two main methods of using transport for your different food options.

6.1) Buses

Georgia Tech has a bus system that can be used to access many of the different locations for on-campus food, as well as grocery options. A list of the buses and bus routes can be viewed here: https://www.pts.gatech.edu/shuttles/stinger/. Notably, the locations in the bus routes include the different on-campus locations mentioned, as well as routes for obtaining groceries both from the east campus options (using the Gold route on weekdays) and from the west campus options (using the Grocery route on weekends). 

6.2) Delivery

One other strategy is to deliver food to your location. This can be done through third party services such as Doordash and UberEats for off-campus options, and can be done through Starship Delivery Robots for on-campus options. For Starship, the steps to get delivery are the following:

1. Get the Starship Delivery app located here. 
2. Select the wanted restaurant and place your order. 

While delivery can be more expensive (especially for options such as Doordash), it’s a more accessible option for people who need such accessibility.

7) Conclusion

Eating optimally in college is crucial to physical, financial, emotional, social, and academic well being. Now that you have read this guide on food options on and around campus, you should have a better idea of what options work for you, based on your diet, budget, and schedule. You can use this information to better plan a dining plan and schedule for the future that works best for you.