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New Food Ordering Process for Events

October 12, 2023

Are you in charge of ordering food for groups? There is a new process in place.

On Oct. 18, 2023, UC Merced ended its relationship with catering management service America To Go. All to-go orders for food now should be entered as a CBS2 purchasing ticket or ordered directly from the food provider (restaurant, bakery, etc.) with a Travel & Entertainment card and picked up or brought to campus.

Best practice is to order food 7-10 days prior to events, so please order at the same time you reserve rooms and invite attendees. Restaurants need time to properly handle your requests.

Why the change? We received feedback, both internally and from the restaurants, that America-To-Go was not mutually beneficial, often creating difficult workarounds for everyone involved.

We have identified and reached out to many local establishments our campus frequently orders from and discussed this change with them. Please note this is not an exhaustive list. There may be a favorite not listed here; you still can order from other restaurants in town.

Please remember that catering (setup, delivery and serving of food) cannot be done by anyone other than UC Merced's campus catering. This is Regents Policy 5402, which all campuses are required to follow: 

The following vendors accept purchase orders from our ServiceNow/Oracle system.

  • Jantz Café & Bakery
  • Bagel Time

These local businesses are ready to accept food orders for payment by T&E card:

  • Jantz Café & Bakery
  • Catering by Chef Melissa
  • Panera Bread
  • Little Oven Pizza
  • Five Ten Bistro
  • Mainzer
  • Bella Luna
  • Raleys
  • Dominoes
  • West Coast Sourdough
  • Mix Bakery
  • Strings Italian Café
  • Rollen Donuts
  • Me-n-Ed's Pizzeria
  • Mountain Mike's Pizza
  • Pizza Guys
  • Port of Subs
  • Save Mart
  • Thai Cuisine II

When ordering food, remember that restaurants need time to schedule staff, order ingredients, make the food, and package the food for pickup/delivery. To be respectful of our restaurant partners, best practice is to order 7-10 days before the event. Try to order at the same time you do reservations and meeting invitations. Last-minute requests happen, but it should not be the standard operation to order food with less than 36 hours' notice.

Questions? Please reach out to procurement@ucmerced.edu.