Krishna Lunch, which served its first plates of food at UF nearly 40 years ago, has begun offering a credit card payment option to customers in response to student demand.
Carl Woodham, chaplain of the Krishna House on Northwest 14th Street, said that supplying a card reader to patrons is also an attempt to offset a roughly 20 percent decrease in turnout over the past two years. He attributes the drop to UF's request for Krishna Lunch to relocate from along Newell Drive to Plaza of the Americas.
"We tried doing it by hand two or three years ago," he said of offering a card payment system to Krishna Lunch customers, "but it was just ungainly."
But in mid-July, following student requests, Gainesville Planning Board Chairman Bob Cohen proposed reintroducing the card payment option using a card reader and an iPad connected to the Verizon Wireless 3G network.
Woodham said student response to the new credit card system, introduced Aug. 22, has ranged from appreciation to surprise and even amusement.
"It's worked out better than we expected," he said, estimating that nearly 30 percent of customers currently use the new credit card option.
Woodham said the goal of Krishna Lunch is to provide an affordable, nutritious and convenient vegetarian meal option for students.
"This just adds another dimension of convenience," he said.
To cover processing costs, cardholders are assessed an 11-cent service fee, bringing the total cost of a Krishna Lunch meal to $4.11.
Woodham said the Krishna House receives no real profit from Krishna Lunch because about 95 percent of earnings go back into food purchases while the majority of the leftover funds are used to replace equipment.
"It's truly a labor of love," he said.
Krishna Lunch serves vegetarian meals at UF's Plaza of the Americas Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and currently accepts all major credit cards.
