The debate on whether to spend campus dining dollars or personal money on food is one many Auburn students face when hunger cravings come, and it becomes more difficult later at night when most food options at the University are closed.
Now students have more choice at night after the University's Campus Dining and the Auburn Student Government Association brokered a partnership to begin their Late Night Food Trucks program.
"This is open to all on-campus food trucks," said William Walker, assistant director of campus dining. "The goal is that we will be able to create a rotation allowing all food trucks that want to participate to have a weekend."
The program initiated last night and will run for the next three weekends — April 8-10, April 15-17 and April 22-23 — as a trial run. Students can visit the trucks at the parking lot on West Magnolia Avenue across from the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity house.
Purchases can be made with one's Tiger Card, credit or debit card as is the case with food trucks during standard operating hours during the day, Walker said.
"Students will be using Grubhub to order either from their phone or from the kiosk that will be located at the truck," he said. "This also provides a level of security for the vendors because they will operate cashless."
Walker said Campus Dining and SGA agreed on the space for the program because the parking lot is well lit, features a blue light emergency call box and offers space for the trucks to operate and for customers to arrive safely. In addition, the University extended its late-night rideshare partnership with Lyft to consider the parking lot a downtown pick-up location for students, and the University Night Security Shuttle also picks up students nearby, he said.
Food trucks will be available for students from 10 p.m.-1 a.m., according to Walker. The University will use the next three weekends to gauge student interest in the program.
"[One] of the items that will make this successful is students keeping safety a priority for themselves and the food truck while dining and keeping the space clean by utilizing the provided trash receptacles," Walker said.
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Tim Nail, junior in journalism, is the campus editor for The Auburn Plainsman.
