Food truck replaces dining hall at Ohio U.

ATHENS, Ohio — Food trucks and buggies that sell a quick bite to eat uptown are plentiful. Ohio University soon will look to get in on that food-on-wheels action in the form of a food truck called the "The Hungry Cat."

The food truck is meant to replace the services of West Green's Boyd Dining Hall while it's closed for renovations this coming spring semester.

The food truck will help the university service one entire side of campus in the midst of what OU officials have previously called a "record-breaking" year for enrollment.

The Hungry Cat will offer "a variety of upscale sandwiches, sides and desserts," according to a page on OU Culinary Services' website, and will sit on OU's West Green this spring in front of Boyd Residence Hall, which contains the green's lone dining hall.

Starting next semester, hungry OU students and staffers on the campus' West Green will have a few options available to them for on-campus food: the food truck, the usual campus market housed in Boyd Hall, or a "mini" Grab 'N Go station set up in the entryway of Boyd. Or else they can take a hike or bus-ride over to the other two dining halls on campus or use one of the dining options in Baker University Center.

Boyd Dining Hall and its Grab 'N Go station represents about 20.5 percent of all meals given last year on campus, Dan Pittman, assistant director of auxiliaries sales and marketing for OU's Culinary Services, said in an email last week. He said that Boyd Dining Hall has served an average of about 1,005 daily customers this semester.

The average number of Grab N' Go meals served each day from Boyd Dining Hall is 700. In comparison, Shively Court (East Green) served an average of 4,102 daily meals this