BtownMenus partners with Hoosier Hills

Currently in its eighth year of business, BtownMenus, a digital food court that highlights restaurants all over Bloomington and allows visitors to order from those restaurants, has found a way to give back to the community.

Corey Arenson, site director of BtownMenus.com, said the company wants to give back to the community through donations to the Hoosier Hills Food Bank.

“I came back to B-town this May and decided we need to give back and support our community that helped us grow,” Arenson said in an e-mail. “We are all about the one for one cause, get one and we give one. Everyone needs to eat and if they can feed people in the process all the better.”

Employees of BtownMenus will also be volunteering at the food bank as part of the program.

BtownMenus was started by IU students Peter Margulies and Michael Rolland in the fall of 2005 and Arenson quickly joined the team. Rolland and Arenson are currently in Denver, Colorado where they started MileHighMenus.com. They formed a similar partnership with the Food Bank of the Rockies, Arenson said.

“We do a one for one program kind of like Toms shoes,” Arenson said. “Every time someone places an order on our site, we donate a free meal to one in need.”

The Hoosier Hills Food Bank, “collects, stores and distributes food to non-profit agencies that feed the hungry in Brown, Lawrence, Orange, Owen, Martin and Monroe counties in Indiana,” according to its website.

The food bank, which opened in 1982, has distributed over 30 million pounds of food.

“Every time someone gets online and orders through BtownMenus, a portion of the proceeds will come to us,” said Jake Bruner, director of development at the Hoosier Hills Food Bank.

Though the donation percentage remains unfixed, Bruner said the partnership between MileHighMenus and the Food Bank of the Rockies has been very successful and he looks forward to the partnership between BtownMenus and Hoosier Hills.

“It sounds like a really great thing,” Bruner said. “I’m really happy to help them promote it and do anything that we can to make this partnership work because when people are ordering food, and it’s probably predominately professors, students and people around campus, it’s good for them to think about how hunger affects people in different parts of the state, especially in Monroe County.”

The start date for the BtownMenus and Hoosier Hills program has been moved from Aug. 20 to Sept. 1.

“Every time someone places an order on Btownmenus starting Sept. 1, they will be helping feed someone in need right here in Bloomington through the food bank and Btownmenus,” Arenson said. “We would love to share this with all of Bloomington so together we can fight hunger.”

The partnership will be a unique experience for Hoosier Hills, Bruner said. Aside from setting up events to bring in donations, Hoosier Hills rarely has an ongoing source such as this partnership, which Bruner said is a huge help.

“It’s gonna be so crucial,” Bruner said. “When we get a partnership like this it’s really helpful because that means we can count on this partner to help meet the need in our community. It’s really great that it’s going to be this kind of consistent
partnership.”