Just like how diet is essential for those going to the gym, a proper diet is also crucial for athletes. According to MedlinePlus, good nutrition helps enhance athletic performance. With an active lifestyle and exercise routine, together with eating well, athletes could stay healthy.
This is why Grubhub, food delivery platform, has recently came into a partnership with Red Card Athletics to allow student-athletes to access more dietitian-approved restaurants via the Grubhub platform and using funds from Red Card.
With the integration of Red Card with Grubhub, these student-athletes get more access and convenience to these restaurants via the Red Card funds available both on- and off-campus.
Red Card Athletics is a leader in mobile technology that helps athletic departments provide food for these athletes, track their diet, and stay on budget. Currently, they are working with over 100 athletic departments across the country.
Historically speaking, using the Red Card requires on-premise hardware and participating merchants, limiting adoption and merchant choice. Grubhub is a blessing.
How does it work?
The integration of the payment systems here is real-time. It allows the Red Card tender to be utilized as a payment method for food and drinks at approved merchants already integrated on the delivery app, helping support athletes who need food during their hectic schedules.
Then, these athletes will receive funds for their team, just like receiving their allowances, plus they could view real-time balances and accept locations within the app.
They must securely add their Red Card number to their Grubhub account. Each time they order, they simply select Red Card as their payment method at checkout at dietitian-approved areas.
Also, all athletes under the program receive complimentary benefits as part of the partnership.
Not only are the student-athletes part of the scheme, but also athletics directors and dietitians. To ensure these athletes access the right meals, these directors and dietitians get access to a dashboard that simplifies the process of building, customizing, and distributing meal funds to these athletes.
At the same time, merchants and dining teams benefit from captive funds previously unavailable with the purely digital integration, while reducing the need for extra hardware or collecting manual receipts.
On-campus dining areas now have Red Card orders integrated fully into the point-of-sales systems of Grubhub, as well as its order flow, eliminating issues. Meanwhile, approved off-campus restaurants are also listed in the app.
What are the new features?
Here are the new features of this integration. First, there’s improved onboarding flows. Tailored setup guides in both the Grubhub and Red Card apps for account linking, campus affiliation, and payment activation will work together. The email verification process has also been streamlined to ensure athlete eligibility and secure fund access.
Then, there’s on-campus and off-campus flexibility. The integration works across campus dining programs and local off-campus merchants, offering athletes more options while maintaining school-approved merchant lists.
The location also plays an important role. The experience is geo-triggered so users could receive targeted offers and complimentary Grubhub+ access to encourage fund usage, organic discovery, and activation beyond the initial student-athlete scope of the deal.
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