The Treehouse has been improving its dining experience with a new seating area dubbed  “The Cardinal Zone” and a more streamlined digital ordering system.

Ray Klein, owner and operator of the Treehouse, the Coffee House (CoHo) and Stanford Student Enterprises, said that months ago he expressed interest in taking over the vacant space next to the Treehouse that had most recently housed a Verizon store.

Although the expansion took over a month to complete, Klein said that it went smoothly, with costs reaching around $7,000. Klein managed to minimized expenditures by hiring people who have worked with him before.

“The main cost was to take down the glass partition, and the rest was furniture and fixtures, the tables, chairs, particularly the bar we put in,” Klein said. “I’ve built 40 restaurants, so I had a depth of experience of what was needed.”

The addition, which features a 65-inch Samsung HDTV and electronic charging ports, seems to be a success. Klein reports that the new area has been heavily used and has helped relieve traffic congestion.

Diners seem pleased as well, using the seating area to watch games and as a general dining space.

“There are less people waiting around the food area,” Stu Melton ‘15 said. “People seem to hang out [in The Cardinal Zone] a lot more.”

Klein said the new seating area reflects a simple philosophy.

“I tried to make it comfortable, I tried to make it simple—I didn’t want to get carried away with decor,” Klein said. “I made sure that we had an inviting space [that was] clean.”

The Treehouse has also successfully implemented OrderAhead, a digital system that allows customer to order and pay for take-out through via computer or phone. Although OrderAhead has dealt with restaurants using a fax system, the Treehouse uses a more modern setup involving a special merchant tablet application.

According to Conway Teng, a member of OrderAhead’s Growth Team, the system is designed to allow potential patrons to bypass the more discouraging elements of take-out, such as poor call quality or disclosing sensitive information over the phone. Patrons can instead select their items and pay using the program.

The app provides a specific time for when an order will be ready if a patron wants it immediately but also allows custom ready times to be set if a patron wants to pick up an order at a later time.

“Given how popular Treehouse is, customers are particularly happy because they don’t have to wait around,” Teng said. “Because kids these days always have their phone around and because our app provides all the information you would want from a place like Treehouse, it’s become extremely convenient for students.“

According to Klein, the system at Stanford is a success and that students also seem to enjoy it.

“OrderAhead is great,” said Marco Juarez ‘16. “I mean it’s really nice to be able to text in, use the app and be like, ‘Oh hey, I need to order and go,’ and whenever I want to come in, I’m good.”

Contact Skylar Cohen at skylarc ‘at’ stanford.edu.