By Jane Collins ’18
A leopard print food truck with a Lafayette logo sits parked in a parking lot on Bushkill Drive. Equipped with energy efficient appliances, including fryers, ovens, sinks and refrigerators, the self-sufficient truck will make its debut after spring break, if weather permits.
The truck is intended to be a food service option at all athletic events, according to an email from Associate Vice President of Finance & Business Affairs Craig Becker.
The most important of these events, Becker wrote, will be those held at Metzgar Fields Athletic Complex, the college owned property located three miles from College Hill, where sports like softball, baseball and track and field compete.
Attached to one side of the truck are an awning and bar for serving students. Next to that is a large television, which will display food options and prices to customers.
While the menu for the truck is not yet finalized, it will consist of “mostly concessions food,” said General Manager of Lafayette’s Dining Services Sarah Fried. There will also be breakfast foods, she added.
One possible menu item is “Smoked Swine” described in an email by Becker as shredded smoked pork bowl with gouda mac ‘n’ cheese and crispy fried onions. Another possibility, Becker wrote, is a bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich on a waffle.
Burgers, hot dogs and cheesesteaks are other possibilities, according to Fried, as is the “Roll Pard,” a buffalo chicken taquito.
According to Fried, students will not be able to use meal swipes as a payment method, but flex will be an option in the future if there’s an available Wi-Fi connection. For now, it will be mostly cash payments, Fried said.
She added that the truck can only hold two or three workers comfortably on it, so for now, it will employ more experienced cooks from the school. But in the future, students could be employed as workers on the truck.
“Once we establish a routine and a flow we’ll open it up,” Fried said. “I’m sure it’s going to be in high demand so we’ll need people.”
“We have a lot of student workers that work at Gilbert’s right now and the manager of Gilbert’s is going to be the manager of the food truck so he may cross utilize those employees,” she added.
The truck will also be available to rent for outdoor events that student groups might be hosting, Fried said. There are also plans to have the truck be at “pop up” events on campus, stationed on the quad for an hour or two on a nice day, Becker wrote.