The beginning of the academic year brought many changes to the dining services offered throughout campus. While North End Dining is only open to 9:30 on weekdays, closed on Saturdays, and open 5:00 - 8:00 PM on Sundays, Marist Dining Services has partnered with local food trucks to bring various options to students.

On Fridays, food trucks will be parked near the North End Dining Hall from 10:00 PM to 1:00 AM, and on Saturdays from 4:00 PM - 6:30 PM and 9:00 PM - 1:00 AM. According to Marist Dining, food trucks will rotate weekly, giving students a wide variety of options on late-night food runs. All of the vendors accept Thrifty Cash, Marist Money, cash, credit, and debit.

Approaching the vendor, you can easily smell the burgers and fries, and they smell delicious. The employees and chefs are all very kind and you can tell they love what they do. However, while the idea of food trucks sounds great and convenient for students, many are left unsatisfied and unimpressed by the trucks overall.

Speaking to different people as they ate their food, everyone seemed to have one thing they did not like about it. Whether it be something was off with their food, it was either dry or seemed like it had been sitting for a while, or it was simply too overpriced.

Seamus O’Rourke ‘20 has gone to the food truck a couple of times. “It is good food, but super overpriced. People are still going to go through because there is nothing else available,” O’Rourke said.

The current vendor is Farmers & Chefs. To order your food, you complete a card, checking off what you would like to order. The Valley Burger, with local grass-fed beef, and Veggie Burger cost $14 each. Their fried chicken and waffle sliders cost $13 and truffle fries are $9. Their full menu can be found on the Marist Dining site.

A common complaint of students was that there was only one truck, and they would rather have a few they could choose from. While Sodexo says they will have a rotating schedule of vendors, the school has yet to see any other one aside from Farmers & Chefs.

Courtney Fallon ‘21 has gone to the food trucks on a few different occasions, trying out different items. However, despite the variety, she has the same complaints as her fellow students. “The food is good, and the idea is good. But I think it is like what happened with Rossi’s. It will be popular for the first couple weeks then it will die down. It is good for three times, but you get sick of it.”

Students Unimpressed by Food Trucks

MARIST CIRCLE