WTF Truck NAU

TC Eberly, director of campus services and activities at Northern Arizona University, stands in front of the latest addition to the dining services list of dining options. The Where’s The Food? truck will move around campus as a mobile dining option for students. (Jake Bacon/Arizona Daily Sun)

FLAGSTAFF, AZ – There will be a lot of hungry mouths to feed when 18,000 students arrive to start classes next week on NAU’s Mountain Campus.

And as those students hustle between classes, they don’t always have time to visit the University Union something to eat.

Complicating matters is that some areas of campus don’t have much in the way of dining services at all.

As academic departments and the housing office have struggled to keep up with climbing enrollment, so, too, has dining services.

That conundrum has pushed TC Eberly, director of campus services and activities, to find creative solutions. The latest step is the Where’s The Food? truck — or WTF truck, as they refer to themselves. It’s an edgy attempt to capture the attention of plugged-in students.

“We’re completely impacted at all of our dining locations during peak periods, so this is just another way of bringing things to them,” Eberly said. “The food truck movement is very popular nationwide.”

Mobile pickup orders

In an attempt to serve all the students, an extra 250 seats were added to the University Union over the summer, along with a new artisan brick-oven pizza restaurant called The Wedge.

And when school starts next week, a student will be able to check Twitter (@WTFTruckNAU) or Facebook (Where’s The Food Truck?) to find the mobile diner’s location. If the truck is nearby or on their way to their next class, they can place an order using their phone or mobile device, pay with campus food credit and pick up the food as they pass the truck.

Find the entire article by Eric Betz at azdailysun.com <here>