“It’s got all the bells and whistles. They are really putting support behind the system,” said Charles Bullard, a culinary instructor at Fayetteville Technical Community College, of the new food truck purchased by the college.
FTCC is starting a new certificate in the fall for food truck management and operation.
The instructors, like Bullard, will be teaching students how to own and operate a food truck business including creating menus that work and operating inside the limitations of a food truck.
Two other colleges in North Carolina have started a program like the one that will be starting at FTCC. The truck itself will operate as a learning facility with students always being the ones to operate it. Bullard and students will be using the truck at upcoming events throughout the year, with their first held on April 22.
“We [served] our menu that students made,” Bullard said. “There’s normally a food truck out there, and this time it [was] FTCC students.”
In the Fall, he says the plan is to be out on campus selling food once a week. The truck capacity can house about five to six people total without becoming too crowded.
Upcoming events will include food ranging from three to eight dollars. Bullard said they made sure the menu is economically friendly.
“We have a lot of plans in the future for the food truck,” he said. “It’s a lot of logistics.”
For now, the truck will be making some limited appearances and then the staff at FTCC hopes to get it out in the community more regularly starting in the Fall with the new food truck program.

(Photo: FTCC's food truck, C.H.E.F., will be operated by students in the coming months for events throughout Fayetteville.  The mobile Culinary and Hospitality Education Facility can be seen on the campus.  Photo by Aly Hansen)