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MDex, a student-founded app that provides University of Michigan students with information about campus resources, hosted a five-day promotion from Sept. 2 to Sept. 4 and Sept. 6 to Sept. 7 featuring exclusive restaurant deals for app users. In collaboration with local restaurants, the promotion offered discounts on menu items for users who showed the app while placing an in-person order. Five restaurants were showcased in the promotion: Haymaker Public House on Monday, Ashley’s on Tuesday, New York Pizza Depot on Wednesday, Samba Bowls on Friday and Lan City Noodle Bar on Saturday.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, LSA senior Charles Zhong, chief technical officer of MDex, said the app was created to be a centralized resource for campus events and opportunities.
“Our inspiration to create MDex came from recognizing the gap in how students at the University of Michigan access campus resources, events and opportunities,” Zhong said. “We realized there wasn’t a centralized platform where students could easily find all this information in one place. MDex was born to create a comprehensive, user-friendly app that will serve as a go-to resource for students to discover everything Michigan has to offer.”
Engineering senior Julius Stuhec, co-founder and chief executive officer of MDex, said last week’s restaurant promotion stemmed from user feedback about the app last year.
“We launched the app early last year, the start of the 2023 school year, and we received a lot of feedback,” Stuhec said. “We worked really hard this summer to create MDex 2.0 and expand the app to make it much more useful for students. Last year, a lot of our users kept asking us, ‘What are new places that we can explore to go eat?’ or ‘What places around Ann Arbor are good to visit?’ So that’s how we came up with the idea of launching a back-to-school campaign for students to try out different restaurants in the area.”
Zhong said the goal of the promotion was to create stronger connections between the U-M community and local businesses.
“We recognize that the University of Michigan and the City of Ann Arbor are deeply intertwined,” Zhong said. “With that in mind, we partnered with local restaurants to host a restaurant week. This initiative has two purposes: on one hand, to encourage students to explore Ann Arbor, and on the other hand, to support local businesses, helping them thrive, which in turn enriches the city of Ann Arbor itself.”
For new U-M students, MDex can serve as a way to explore their college town. Engineering freshman Jax Coates said he has been consistently using the app since moving to Ann Arbor.
“I first heard about (MDex) the first week I moved in, and I got it because free stuff is free stuff,” Coates said. “This is the first week that I have been using it. Two days ago, I got free coffee, and then yesterday I got free tea at a community event. There are a lot of events I don’t know (are) going on, so this helps out.”
Coates said he felt the promotion was especially helpful for students who use the app because it allows them to try new restaurants at an affordable price.
“(The promotion) introduces new students to a lot of places that maybe they don’t know about which is important to do,” Coates said. “It generates a lot of revenue for the businesses that participate and gets their names out there. It also is a better experience for the students who don’t have a lot of money. So I think it’s beneficial for everyone.”
In an interview with The Daily, Newton Guimaraes, one of the owners of Samba Bowls, said the promotion provided an opportunity for their business — which is relatively new — to increase its recognition among students.
“It’s our first year and our third month (in Ann Arbor),” Guimaraes said. “We are big fans of the University of Michigan and are super excited to participate in any event related to the University and its students. Because this app is advertised within the University, we thought it was a great idea to participate.”
In an interview with The Daily, Lou Telemaco, a cashier at New York Pizza Depot, said he felt the promotion went very well and is something the restaurant might consider doing again.
“This is the first day that we have done this with MDex,” Telemaco said. “For the first hour, I think it was like three people, but when it hit 6:30 (p.m.) a bunch of people started coming in, and it was looking like this is something that we should continue to do.”
Daily Staff Reporters Alyssa Tisch and Thomas Gala-Garza can be reached at tischaa@umich.edu and tmgala@umich.edu.
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