UC Davis takes aim at food insecurity with new pay-what-you-want food truck

At the University of California at Davis, 40% of undergrads and 20% of graduate students struggle with some level of food insecurity.

Those rates are something the dining team hopes to make a dent in with the help of a new food truck, Aggie Eats.

The truck offers a pay-what-you-want model by which students can choose the dollar amount they’d like to pony up for a dish—including $0.

At 24 feet long, the food truck is the largest on campus and serves as its own moving billboard while visiting four sites throughout the week. “It’s a beast cruising around,” says Kraig Brady, executive director of dining services.

And it’s a unique response to a pervasive issue. “In my network, I’ve never heard of this being done before,” says Brady, noting that it’s “really kind of taken off like wildfire.”

How Aggie Eats came to be

A while back, the school’s vice chancellor of student affairs convened a working group to brainstorm ways to solve food insecurity at UC Davis.

The group discussed brick-and-mortar distribution points, giving out free food and more, but after realizing the additional staffing and costs that would be required, the ideators “had to bring ourselves back to reality,” says Brady.

Fortunately, the campus is home to myriad kitchens and chefs, as well as a commissary with a high production volume.

“So the question was asked: Can we use our existing infrastructure to produce food economically and efficiently without raising, really, any internal costs?” Brady says.

The idea of a food truck was very appealing, he says, as it would allow for some mobility, give the opportunity to visit food deserts on campus and enable students in need to receive food without being singled out.   

Customers access the menu by using a QR code and entering their student ID. 

With the help of a donor and the partnership of the Aggie Compass Basic Needs Center, a student resource on campus, the truck got off the ground and began serving meals a couple weeks ago.

No cooking equipment is physically on the truck—food is prepared in the commissary, packed up and later reheated on the vehicle. This allows the team to keep costs down while retaining menu flexibility, Brady says.

For the most part, Aggie Eats been very well received by students, who access its menu by using a QR code and entering their student ID. From there, they can pay what they wish for their meal without fellow customers or the 4 or 5 workers on the truck knowing how much—or if—they paid.

Students can select multiple portions of what’s being served that day and order dishes cold to have on hand for future meals. There’s no suggestion of what to pay, and if a student does choose to spend something, it serves as a donation to the program.

“[We] wanted to take guilt out of the equation,” Brady says.

A peek at the menu

What the truck serves depends on the cycle menu for the school’s three dining commons. Recent offerings include Pulled Pork with Chipotle Pinto Beans and Cilantro Rice, Penne Pasta with Turkey Bolognese and BBQ Beef with Baked Beans and Roasted Cauliflower.

“I know when it gets to be colder in the late fall, early winter, we’ll do more soups, stews and chowders, and chilis, that kind of thing,” Brady says.

In addition, Aggie Eats does food recovery distribution on an ad hoc basis, serving salads, sushi and similar items that are still good quality but have passed their code date. There’s also opportunity to offer fresh produce and other items farmers market-style outside the truck.

Things started a bit slowly as workers were onboarded to Aggie Eats, but the team hopes to serve in the ballpark of 500 meals beginning this week.

“Our program is not going to solve food insecurity,” Brady says, “but what it does is give one more element of connection to a student that may not know their [available] resources.”