While the New University Center was under construction, UH welcomed food trucks to offer students another selection. With its opening, the food trucks will relocate to Pad 3 in February. | Carolina Trevino/The Daily Cougar
Food trucks have a definite place at UH even though the New University Center is open — so much so that another cluster of trucks will become available soon, said Amber Arguijo, marketing manager for UH System Dining.
Pad 3 will open in February at a former loading dock at the Old Science building facing the U-drive at Entrance 14. Arguijo said the students and faculty have been asking for more dining options in that area, which also gets plenty of traffic from the shuttles and students traveling to classes. The pad will be able to accommodate three trucks, and students will be able to use their Cougar Cash at the trucks.
“The trucks have been so popular over the past 18 months and have gained loyal fan bases among the student body,” Arguijo said. “They also provide a variety and fresh perspective that many brick-and-mortar locations cannot since they are able to so quickly shift their menu as tastes and seasons change.”
The lineup of trucks — Bernie’s Burger Bus, The Waffle Bus, Bare Bowls, The Rice Box, Happy Endings, Third Coast, Coreanos and Kurbside Eats — will be the same as before, but unlike previous semesters, the trucks will not stay open until 6 p.m. as some did when they were at the UC’s Pad 1, Arguijo said.
Chris Chambers of Happy Endings said he is glad the University has extended the food truck program. As a former student, he said he enjoys seeing the progression of the University and seeing the campus embrace Houston’s growing food truck scene.
“Coming back here having been a student in the past and seeing all the different changes to campus, I think it’s really cool pad 3 is about to … come about,” Chambers said.
“Food trucks on campus is cool because it really shows a change of pace for campus activity. It’s something fresh; it’s something new; it’s (an) ever-changing thing here in Houston since it started up in the past few years, so it’s nice to see the school adopt things that are going on with the city as the city changes.”
Philosophy senior Geo Thayil said The Waffle Bus is so good, it reminds him of his hometown in India, and he’s glad they’re not going anywhere.
“It just sort of reminded me of my hometown, and so me and the Waffle Bus have a connection, if you would say,” Thayil said. “(When Pad 3 opens), I’ll bring them more customers. I’ll bring my dad, my mom, my grandparents, my brothers, my sisters, my aunts, my uncles, my nieces, my nephews. I love that place.”
Computer information systems freshman Nicole Grandy said she loves that the food trucks are staying on campus. She wants to see more trucks on campus, like Oh My Gogi!, a Korean BBQ truck, and have them available at more locations like by the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library.
“They’re better than the Satellite food and the UC food because everything they have at the Satellite and the UC, you can get that anywhere else, but food trucks — they’re harder to find,” Grandy said. “With the food trucks, it’s better quality food.”
Other students, like mathematical biology senior Justin Joseph, are indifferent about the opening of Pad 3. He said though he loves Bernie’s Burger Bus and feels food trucks have a place on campus by providing diversity to a diverse population, he still won’t be frequenting them and especially now since the UC is open.
“The main thing is that the UC’s cheaper, so I don’t see myself going back there anytime soon. It’s too expensive. It’s like 10 bucks for a meal,” Joseph said. “It’s more options, but I don’t know how successful they’ll be now that the UC is open.”
