For all of us out there who are hungry but antisocial, the New York Times today presents an overview of online food ordering services. The benefits are obvious – it’s fast, (usually) more accurate, you can place an order the day before, and you don’t need cash. Lots of chain restaurants are now offering it (Pizza Hut, Subway, and Papa John’s are some examples), but there are also a few special websites that aggregate menus from multiple restaurants (after the break).

If you’re in college, campusfood.com will let you order online or via text message. Seamlessweb.com is geared more toward professionals and corporate accounts, but for now it only serves a few large cities in the northeast. And delivery.com offers a fairly decent variety of options, at least for the two addresses (in different states) we tested.

Remember, though, that the one thing you can pretty much count on is that these services collect data on you each time you use them. If you’re sensitive about privacy, or just don’t want to trade your demo stats for the convenience of online ordering, you might be better off with that takeout menu you keep in your desk drawer next to the Sharpies and paper clips you’re hoarding.

www.FriesWithThat?.com [New York Times]

(Photo: Getty)

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