Instead of sitting around on the sidelines, watching the rest of the players out on the field, University at Buffalo has launched its first food truck. Called Big Blue, the 30 foot long truck will be traveling between north and south campuses, serving up elevated college-style food that includes grilled cheese sandwiches, mac and cheese dishes (such as jalapeño and beef on week) and teppanyaki.
Inside the giant truck, Campus Dining and Shops (CDS) has created a professional kitchen away from its home kitchen. The truck is outfitted with everything that it needs to feed the hungry masses at sporting events, UB catered outings and other student-faculty gatherings. In order to pull off this feat, the food team installed everything that it needed to create a first class mobile professional kitchen – fryers, broilers, steam tables, a flat top grill, refrigerated cases and a convection oven.
“As UB grows, we’re limited in physical space to build kitchens. A food truck gives us that flexibility to serve different areas relatively easily,” says Ray Kohl, CDS marketing manager. “We’re going to be where food isn’t normally readily available, so we don’t see this being parked outside of the Student Union. They’re already being served.”
If you’re thinking that Big Blue is solely in the business of slinging typical college food. think again. These days students are able to find just about everything under the sun at their dining halls. That meant that Big Blue needed to be able to prepare gourmet offerings, while keeping the college-theme in mind. A few of the offerings look something like this:
“The Pink Goat,” features herbed goat cheese on marble rye with pickled beets and arugula
“Peanut Butter with Sideburns,” peanut butter sandwich with bacon, bananas and a hint of cream cheese
“Plain Jane,” a classic American cheese on sourdough bread.
The menu items will change up from week to week, while keeping a host of favorites onboard at all times. Prices will range from $4-$8 – students can use their UB cards. After the opening of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences building at the Medical Campus, Big Blue will have a third campus added to its route. If all goes according to plan, UB might add a second smaller truck to the program called Baby Blue.
Find Big Blue on Facebook – lead photo
*Big Blue will circle the North Campus on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and the South Campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays. CDS also will station the truck on the South Campus on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Regular schedule to be announced soon.