The sign for The O on Lane, located at 352 W. Lane Ave, which is adding a new delivery truck for catering orders. Credit: Daniel Bush | Campus Photo Editor
A hot and fresh set of wheels will soon be spotted around campus — the “O on the Go.”
The O on Lane, a local pizza hot spot located at 352 W. Lane Ave., announced in an Instagram post that the business launched its new delivery van for large takeout orders.
“It’ll be a different way for us to approach business, because it’ll be a mobile part, and we’ve never had that before,” said Natalie Wallace, a manager and fourth-year in health sciences.?
While The O on Lane has previously offered short-distance in-house delivery options, staff members delivered using their personal vehicles, which were often unable to accommodate large quantities of pizza, according to O on Lane Owner, Ed Gaughan.?
“We’ll be able to do more stuff with the size of it,” Gaughan said. “This would be enough to kind of handle any level.”
Regan Grygiel, a manager, said the restaurant’s initial catering was only available for official events and other local businesses, where the restaurant could accommodate 10 pizzas or less.
While students can still order from The O on Lane via GrubHub, Doordash, UberEats and other delivery services, the ‘O on the Go’ serves to further establish the restaurant’s presence within the Ohio State community, Grygiel said.?
“We previously offered team and catering menus, but once we created those and started passing them out to people, the orders just instantaneously picked up,” Grygiel said. “It made [the van] kind of a no-brainer, that this was a good avenue to take and that we could expand.”
Gaughan said while the business has been fulfilling delivery orders for years, the addition of the new van will help eliminate previous issues, such as limited space and time restrictions.?
The future of the restaurant’s catering services are still in development, Gaughan said.?
“It may evolve into something else, like if it expands into a larger catering type of thing, where you need to sit there and serve, but right now it’s more just delivery [and] drop off,” Gaughan said.?
The O on Lane is not putting a limit on how far they are willing to travel for delivery orders, according to chef John Bartolome.?
“I think if anyone calls and schedules ahead and we’re able to do it, I don’t see us having a real limit,” Bartolome said. “We can travel. This is why [Gaughan] got the van, so we’re able to get out of our small range.”
Bartolome said transitioning from delivering in cars to a van will be an upgrade.
“Before, it was one of us in our four-door cars, and you have pizza stacked up to the ceiling,” Bartolome said. “It wasn’t easy to do. So, now that we have something where it makes it more accessible we can have more reach, we can expand more.”?
Grygiel said having access to a delivery van will promote customer loyalty.?
“Most groups that we see ordering are people who have dined in previously,” Grygiel said. “They like it so much that they want to share it wherever they’re going.”
Grygiel described how recently, the restaurant catered pizza for an Ohio State class, in which a regular customer was a student and was excited that his professor ordered from The O on Lane.
“He was like, ‘I knew he was my favorite professor for a reason — of course, he’s ordering from The O on Lane,’” Grygiel said.?
Gaughan said with the incorporation of expanded delivery options, the business will also be looking into expanding its menu.?
“The more we grow, we’re kind of finding our demographic and what people like,” Bartolome said. “We’re kind of evolving into more of a restaurant at night, and then we’re a game day destination. So for us, it just makes sense, [on] restaurant days, for us to do nicer things than just pizza and wings or just hamburgers.”?
Bartolome said when it comes to catering orders, the restaurant can fulfill almost any order a customer requests.
“It’s kind of a symbiotic thing where they need something, we can provide it, and we need the community also,” Bartolome said.?
Wallace said, above all else, the ‘O on the Go’ serves to convenience their customers.?
“If they want to call and place an order, it’s just another service that we can provide to them — being able to bring it to them so they don’t have to leave wherever they’re at,” Wallace said. “It’s just a better way to serve our customers.”
Bartolome said The O on Lane will continue to find its footing as a staple within the Ohio State restaurant community.?
“I think [Gaughan] has done a good job of making himself a part of the [Ohio State] culture,” Bartolome said. “That’ll just kind of cement it even more when everyone sees ‘O on the Go’ rolling around.”?
Gaughan said his restaurant is ready to grow, and he is looking forward to it.?
“We can get as creative as we need to be,” Gaughan said. “We’re ready to expand our relationships and expand our product and our brand.”
