Foodservice Equipment & Supplies

OCT 2016

Foodservice Equipment & Supplies magazines is an industry resource connecting foodservice operators, equipment and supplies manufacturers and dealers, and facility design consultants.

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60 • FOODSERVICE EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES • OCTOBER 2016 ON-SITE PROFILE By Donna Boss, Contributing Editor Photographs by Jed Froelich and Victoria Boatwright V irginia Tech Dining Services' leaders had been working for years to bring a food truck concept to their portfolio. When Virginia Tech's presi- dent announced plans to increase enrollment by 5,000 students over the next 7 years, starting in the fall of 2015, dining services needed to make plans to accommodate a larger campus population. "With this growth and having our dining centers at capacity, Dining Services needed a fast infusion of capacity to our dining program during peak hours in an innovative, cost-effective manner," says Ted Faulkner, director of Dining Services. "We had to address this new demand versus needed demand long before new brick-and- mortar venues can be built." With new circumstances, the time had come to move forward and venture into the food truck business. Faulkner and Bill Hess, associate director for Dining Services, were as ready as they could be. During their extensive and thorough food truck research phase, Faulkner and Hess visited several college campuses and cities with trucks, called many col- leagues and looked at trucks exhibited at The NAFEM Show and at the National Restaurant Association's annual trade show. Now they had to decide on a supplier and nail down plans for design, staffing and names. The food trucks selected allow dining services to offer food to students, faculty and staff in several underserved areas of the sprawling 2,600-acre campus. This includes an area with a new 1,600-seat classroom building, another area housing sororities and fraternities, an alumni mall and a main campus thoroughfare. The mobile units also serve VIRGINIA TECH FOOD TRUCKS ROLL OUT ON CAMPUS Steering clear of what hasn't worked for other campus food truck startups and gearing up for future student growth, Virginia Tech's dining services team has jump-started two food trucks. Kitchens deliver on speed of service and flexible menus.

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