Upon meeting on a Palatine Park District soccer team when they were 7, Dan Glazer and Justin Gorrell would have never imagined where their relationship as teammates would take them.

Glazer and Gorrell, juniors in LAS, recently started a new entrepreneurial venture on campus. The roommates manage www.EatCU.com, a Web site allowing students to order food for delivery from 18 campus restaurants. The site also features scanned copies of many other local restaurant menus, ranging from other delivery options to fine dining.

“We wanted to put it all in one place and make it easier,” Glazer said.

The idea spawned from Glazer’s visit to Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., two years ago when he saw a similar service in action. He contacted the students who were involved and started networking with students on other campuses who ran similar dining guides. After investments from their parents, guidance from YNot Advertising and market research, www.EatCU.com launched on Aug. 22, the first day of classes this semester.

“One of the biggest challenges has been working with a limited budget at first,” Gorrell said. “I’ve learned as much doing this for two months as I have in two years in college.”

Gorrell’s stepfather, Tom Salvetti, helped provide financial support to the project because the pair convinced him of its capability and commitment.

“You’re only going to throw money at something if it’s a well thought-out project and if it has legs,” Salvetti said. “What they’ll gain in business experience will last them the rest of their careers no matter what they do long term.”

To get started, Glazer and Gorrell came to campus for the second half of the summer to sign on restaurants for online ordering. Eleven establishments were on board at the site’s launch, and now 18 offer online ordering. The pair envisions continued growth as restaurant owners see the convenience and accuracy of taking orders online.

“They know the benefits of being online, they just don’t know how to do it,” Glazer said, adding that the site is now processing 100 online orders each week compared to two orders during its first week.

The site sees 400 unique visitors a day, and its founders hope to achieve 1,000 daily visitors by the end of the semester. Between their marketing efforts and the weather turning colder, Glazer and Gorrell have their goal in sight.

“We’re at an advantage because people respect the opinion of their peers more than a corporate advertising agency,” Gorrell said.

The two students wake up early in the morning to check on the status of the previous night’s orders and get the Web site’s name out on Facebook, which they say is one of their best – and cheapest – marketing tools. Gorrell and Glazer said balancing the business with classes has been difficult since the site launched.

“It’s definitely been a challenge, but I think it’s a good skill we’ve been learning,” Glazer said. “We’re still learning from this immensely, and it’s been a ton of time.”

Chris Fallon, junior in Engineering, can attest to the hours the pair has put into the venture.

As the pair’s roommate, Fallon said they spend a lot of time on the phone with restaurants and have significantly less free time than before starting their business.

“They’re both really hard workers, they’re both really smart guys and they both have a lot of initiative and motivation,” Fallon said. “They’re the kind of people who don’t give up on things, and if they’re going to do something they’re going to do it right.”