Student-built Caf App faces uncertain future after 2026
The popular student-run service raises questions about what comes next
The future of The Caf App remains uncertain. The creator of the project, Micah Lindley, will graduate in May 2026 and is unsure about his involvement thereafter. The Caf App is a student-run application that assists Mississippi College (MC) diners through a variety of features, one of which allows students to view the MC cafeteria menu. It also helps students keep track of their meal points, rate food items listed on the menu, and check meal times across all dining facilities on campus.
While the app is used by many on campus, the project is not an official MC service. The app was created and is entirely managed by Lindley, a senior from Millington, Tennessee.
Lindley, a computer information systems major at MC, created The Caf App in fall 2022. Now, with his graduation in spring 2026 quickly approaching, he is unsure about what is to become of his creation. “Graduation is something that’s definitely weighing on me a little bit because, am I going to keep maintaining this for free after I graduate?” Lindley said.
“My original business plan for the app was — I wanted to bring it to other universities and charge a monthly subscription fee to the university, not the students … to pay me to maintain The Caf App for their school. Every school could have their own Caf App,” Lindley said.
The developer pitched his idea to Robert Turnage, director of web and creative communications, for the Office of Marketing and Communications. The project was turned down. “I wanted to use MC as like a test case to show off to other schools and so I wanted to offer to do that for MC for free, so I reached out to them, I sent an email to the marketing department with screenshots of an administrative panel that I had built out … they got back to me like ‘we’re not interested,’” Lindley said.
Blue & Gold Media reached out to Robert Turnage for a comment on Lindley’s offer and the careful decision to turn it down. “The office of marketing and communications has no involvement with The Caf App, so we can’t really comment on the subject,” Turnage said via email.
While the office did not comment further, universities often weigh factors such as data security, contracting requirements and long-term feasibility when considering third-party apps.
Lindley was not the only one who was disappointed after the project faced rejection. Nick Allen, a student government senator, described the schools response as “a little disheartening.” Allen is one of five sophomore senators of the Student Government Association (SGA) at MC. Allen felt that the school should have taken advantage of Lindley’s work and stated that he did not believe there were any downsides. “It was not going to be a charged service, and it was already established as a very good and convenient way to access various items in the Caf,” Allen said.
In fall 2024, an SGA committee focused on campus affairs discussed ways to make the cafeteria menu more transparent for students with allergies. They found The Caf App as a potential solution. Allen, who serves on the Campus Affairs Committee, commented on some of his work relating to dining improvements. “We were already looking for a way to maybe have a QR code to scan for the nutrition information and allergen information, but if you have The Caf App, then it could just be direct on there, very convenient to students,” Allen said.
Lindley also believes that accessing allergy information could be made into a feature on the app. The developer stated, however, that it is not something that he would pursue as the operator of the service due to liability concerns. “A benefit of it being an official MC service means the school could manage that,” Lindley said.
According to the developer, another potential option for The Caf App is to pass on the management to another student. “That’s probably something I’m going to look into more in the second semester. The Caf App has a lot of documentation on the codebase and stuff that would help someone who is coming on to take it over,” Lindley said. “But that would kind of be, in my opinion, a last-ditch scenario I think. I still haven’t completely given up on pitching the app to other schools and it becoming a side business for me, but I’m honestly not quite sure what the future holds.”