Schools traditionally serve food to their students in a cafeteria. Students stand in line and can choose from a variety of foods. However, this classic way of delivering lunch is changing for students in the Boulder Valley School District.
Whole Foods has made a $75,000 donation which will affect the five schools in the district: Boulder, Fairview, Monarch, Centaurus and Broomfield. This donation will allow a pre-owned food truck to rotate around the five schools. Administrators find that the food trucks are very popular with students. The goal of these trucks is to not only boost the appeal of school lunches, but to serve healthier food to students as well. As of right now, fewer than 20 percent of the students take advantage of hot school lunches.
Some ingredients to be featured on the menu include a bacon, lettuce and tomato grilled cheese sandwich, char-broiled hamburgers, ancho chicken and more. However, these items are still in the works. Administrators want the food trucks to serve up these products in a different and unique way to make them more appealing to customers. If the food tastes and looks the same as the previous cafeteria food, nobody is going to want to try it out. Students, however, are requesting items such as sushi, ice cream and fresh deli sandwiches.
Students are responding positively to the idea of a food truck because there aren’t really any restaurants within walking distance that they can head to for lunch. Instead, they have to often drive off campus to find something to eat. But with a food truck, they could stick around the school and take advantage of good food. Normally, students avoid the school cafeteria, so the truck could be an incentive to keep them around. Who knows? This type of food delivery may inspire kids to get involved in an Austin culinary arts program! The food truck will start operating as a test program in either April or May of 2014.
This Boulder Valley School District isn’t the only institution trying out the food truck craze. The Jefferson County School District currently uses a food truck during the school’s summer food program. Schools in the Miami-Dade County Public School District have also used food trucks as a way to promote healthy eating.
The trickiest part about having food trucks during the school year is payment. The districts must accept payment for lunch, but there are some students who get either free or reduced-price lunches. Other details, like where to put the garbage and where the truck should be located, need to be sorted out.
