The Future is Food Truck

Food truck program makes changes light years ahead

by Herby Beam, Justice, Rahma Adesina

Get ready to chow down as the University of Houston welcomes the future of food for 2020 and beyond with an epic robot roll-out, a new food hall-style dining complex and the expansion of food truck fantasticness.

Interest in on-campus dining for the UH remains steady over the past five years. University administrators are trying new things to get student to stay on-campus.

Numbers represent search interest relative to the highest point on the chart for the given region and time. A value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular.

According to the recent 2019 College and University trends report, “69% of students eat off-campus at least once a week” and only “33% of students are satisfied with their school’s food service facilities.”

The food truck program has numerous sites on-campus called pads where food truck owners can park.

Burgers and fries are typical choices among the current food truck options.

Do food truckers make good lovers?

The Almost Accidental Food Truck Program

To meet the evolving needs of students, the University of Houston implemented the food truck program in 2012. While the student center was undergoing renovations, the food truck program was meant to be a stopgap measure to provide on-campus dining during construction. The program was so popular; the university decided to keep it.

“The sky appears to be the limit with the food trucks,” said Emily Fahner, marketing manager for UH Dining. “They are able to fill a certain niche on campus that traditional brick-and-mortar outlets simply cannot.”

The food truck program at UH offers a diverse range of options for dining al fresco with popular items such as burgers and fries, quesadillas and sushi.

But some students would like to see more diversity.

The struggle of a food truck owner

While the university has attempted to comply with students’ requests by keeping the mobile-munchies in place, operators of the trucks face exorbitant permit fees and regulations to get placed on the university schedule.

According to a report by Food Truck Nation in cooperation with the US Chamber of Commerce, the cost of licensing and permits in Houston is on average with the rest of the country.

Cost includes legal procedures, trips to government agencies, and onetime fees paid to city government agencies or other official entities, such as notaries and accredited food safety training facilities.

The food trucks are not owned and operated by UH. But the food truck program is managed by Chartwells Higher Ed which oversees all campus dining.

Food truck owners interested in doing business with the UH system must submit paperwork and agree to pay Chartwells Higher Ed 15% of their food sales.

Many students find the high menu costs prohibitive. Journalism major, Drew Jones, is not a frequent customer of the food trucks because of the cost.

“It’s definitely too high,” Jones said. “Since they are on campus, they should give a student discount of sorts. I only visit a food truck maybe 2–3 times a month, because of the high prices.”

Houston restrictions placed on food truck operation

It’s important to note there are heavy restrictions placed on food truck operators by the city of Houston. Food trucks are not allowed to “operate within 100-feet of a restaurant or 60 feet from other food trucks.” There are distance rules of 100 feet from tables and chairs, and street parking is strictly prohibited for vendors.

The trucks’ owners are also required to pay the city $223.65 a month for an “electronic monitoring fee and submit a notarized letter citing restroom availability at every new location they operate one year in advance.

I heart food trucks

With the support of the school and the students, the future of food trucks at the University of Houston has a delicious future.

Auxiliary Services has issued the Retail Dining Vision which lays out the future of food on campus.

An outdoor food truck park is tentatively scheduled to open for the spring 2020 semester. The report also mentions a Chic-Fil-A food truck coming in the fall of 2020 and an increase in variety with new “Halal, kosher, vegan and vegetarian” foods.

With the closing of Satellite in the spring 2020 semester, the University of Houston is also planning a food hall that “puts the cooks back in the stations, eliminates machine made food and pulls together all of the elements of locality, socialization, technology and worldly culinary experiences…”

Slated to open in 2022, the new space will offer scenic views of the campus, a variety of international dining options with a focus on sustainability.

The future is now at the University of Houston and who knows what’s next? Maybe the robots delivering your coffee today will be teaching you American history tomorrow.