By Briahnna Brown
Looking for new food options? A new George Washington University partnership with dining app TwentyTables will bring those options to the university community, including four food trucks daily in Potomac Square from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for lunch and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. for dinner.
To celebrate the partnership, GW and TwentyTables will host a kickoff event from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Oct. 30 at Potomac Square with food and merchandise giveaways and a ribbon cutting with President Thomas LeBlanc. TwentyTables is also running a series of promotions for the kickoff, including the Golden Ticket giveaway where a student can win free meals for the semester.
At Potomac Square, which is an open area in the 2000 block of G Street across from Lisner Hall, food trucks will regularly be stationed throughout the year for lunch and dinner service. The Potomac Square initiative aimed to bring another community space to the university.
Mark Diaz, executive vice president and chief financial officer, said the recent renovation of Potomac Square to feature covered seating areas and an array of seating was part of this summer’s effort to direct $10 million toward dozens of projects in residential, academic and administrative spaces, improving the university community’s experience and enhancing GW’s culture.
“University leadership saw Potomac Square as a perfect opportunity to utilize a previously underused space to enhance the GW community by increasing on-campus areas to meet and socialize," Mr. Diaz said. "Potomac Square has been transformed from an open-air meeting area into a vibrant and robust space where students, faculty and staff can eat, spend time together and relax.”
In addition to Potomac Square, the TwentyTables app will give students affordable access to an additional 100-plus food trucks and restaurants throughout the District.
TwentyTables founder Alex Cohen said that he developed the app to create a viable mechanism to connect food vendors with a customer base that may not have been able to regularly afford these options before.
“GW shares TwentyTables’ vision of providing affordable and accessible meals for all, and we are fortunate that the school immediately understood the many benefits of integration and moved quickly at an institutional level to make this partnership happen," Mr. Cohen said.
Through the app, users buy packs of tickets five at a time for $33 with GWorld Dining Cash or a credit or debit card. Those tickets can then be used at participating food trucks and restaurants to buy discounted meals—a lunch item costs one ticket ($6 + 60 cents tax) and a dinner item costs two tickets. The weekday food trucks in Potomac Square will be required to offer several items available for one ticket at lunch or two tickets at dinner and customers also can choose other menu items and use food tickets to make the purchase.
The ticket system, Mr. Cohen said, builds in predictability for consumers and vendors while making wholesome food options more accessible. With every meal purchased through the app, TwentyTables will donate a meal through local food charities, such as Capital Area Food Bank, D.C. Central Kitchen or Martha’s Table.
Food vendors on TwentyTables offer menu options from around the world, including Indonesian, Ethiopian, Peruvian, Himalayan and Thai along with American options. The choices also meet a variety of dietary lifestyles, with many vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free menu items available for lunch and dinner.
Karen Zinn, director of business and auxiliary services which oversees GWDining, said that this partnership will make it easier for GW students to experience D.C. as the food city it is known to be.
“We are delighted the partnership with TwentyTables allows us to expand our dining offerings to include affordable and accessible dining options that are diverse and culturally relevant to our community,” said Karen Zinn, GW’s Director of Business and Auxiliary Services.