A new dining option is coming to Taylor University’s campus this March.
The AVI dining Instagram account posted a picture of a bright purple food truck on Feb. 19. The pictures of the truck, adorned with light purple and yellow swirls, were accompanied with a caption that urged students to get ready: “There’s a new bite in town.”
The food truck will specialize in quick meals like burrito bowls, tacos, stir fry or burgers, Sean Wojtkowski, resident director of AVI Food Systems, said.
When the university came to him with the idea of a food truck, they initially wanted to salvage two old food trucks that were previously used as makeshift kitchens. When Wojtkowski looked at the trucks they had in mind, he saw they were not very appealing or practical.
Luckily, Wojtkowski knew a guy in South Bend, Indiana who builds food trucks for a living, and that’s who built the truck seen on AVI’s Instagram. The decision to build a new truck instead of renovating old ones meant it could be designed in a way that accommodated the university’s unique needs and concerns.
“They built it fairly quick and efficient,” Wojtkowski said. “It was pretty simple because I drew the idea on a piece of paper, and I reviewed it with them. I expressed the concern about ample refrigeration, and so it’s set up with quite a bit of refrigeration and for us to be able to get some good food out of it.”
He imagines a student coming up to the truck, writing their order down on a slip of paper, handing it through the window and swiping their card. The cook will prepare the order, and the student will move to the other end of the truck where they will pick up the meal.
March will serve as a time to test out the truck, experiment with parking locations and work out any issues that may arise. Wojtkowski expects the POS (point of sale) system to be their biggest challenge. The POS system refers to the system that controls things like taking orders and processing payments, such as meal swipes.
While Wojtkowski would not be surprised by these obstacles, he said he is excited to provide a new option for Taylor students.
“Down the road, it could (also) be the concession stand for football games,” he said. “So really just bringing experience to the students, something a little different to help drive some traffic away from the student center during lunch.”
For more dining updates, follow AVI on Instagram: @avifreshtaylor.
