Long lines, hot food and appetizing smells are the new normal around campus since food trucks have arrived. The University of Alabama welcomed JoJo’s, Local Roots and Archibald & Woodrow’s BBQ on Feb. 8.
The SGA worked with Bama Dining to create a partnership with the various vendors in order to give students a wider selection of food options on different areas of campus.
“The SGA communicated they would love to see food trucks on campus, so we have definitely partnered with them to bring them to campus and give students a better variety,” said Heather Young, marketing manager for Bama Dining. “We also know certain areas of campus are a little underserved and we wanted to make sure that with these food trucks we could improve that.”
JoJo’s is a family-owned truck that has been in operation for a year and a half. They specialize in gourmet southern foods with a menu that changes everyday.
“Whatever is fresh is what we cook, nothing comes out of a can,” said Jorene Barfield, owner of JoJo’s.
Their most popular dishes are the chicken nachos and the fried mac and cheese spring rolls.
“We will keep the chicken nachos but they will switch from chicken to duck, to beef, to black bean,” she said.
Jeff Bang, a sophomore majoring in chemistry from Atlanta, Georgia, recently visited JoJo’s and tried the chicken nachos.
“I was impressed by how fast they got my order to me,” Bang said. “The taste of the food was awesome.”
Bang said he is hoping that the food trucks will soon accept Dining Dollars. Currently, they are only able to accept cash or credit/debit cards.
Local Roots is the newest food truck to the Tuscaloosa area and is owned by Dustin Spruill.
“We officially opened in April and I have always liked what food has done in terms of bringing people together,” Spruill said.
Spruill prides Local Roots on their menu.
“We work with a local farm and then build our menu from there,” he said.
The Local Roots Burger and Grandaddy’s Fries are the most popular menu items, and the rest of the menu rotates seasonally. Spruill will be introducing their new spring menu during the semester.
William Cunzeman, a freshman from Rockford, Illinois, majoring in aerospace engineering, tried the pork taco. He is excited to have food trucks on campus, but hopes to see the areas they serve expanded.
“I would like to see them get a little more centralized to other places on campus such as the engineering quad,” he said.
Archibald and Woodrow’s BBQ is a Tuscaloosa staple. MarKeldon Washington carries on a BBQ tradition in its fourth generation, and manages food trucks and catering from the Northport-based restaurant which was established in 1962.
“Our food truck is only two years old,” he said. “Woodrow Washington, our owner, thought it would be cool to have a BBQ restaurant on wheels.”
For Archibald and Woodrow’s BBQ, the biggest challenge has been ensuring they have enough food.
“The first day it was just me and the owner, Woodrow Washington, we were just testing the waters,” Washington said. “We knew we would probably do ok but we didn’t think we were going to be that busy. We had a line with no less than 85 people in it for the whole three hours we were out there. It was a success and it was not anything we can’t handle, we won’t normally run out of food.”
Students and faculty can access the locations of the food trucks through Bama Dining’s Facebook page.
While no definite plans have been made to keep the food trucks on campus for future semesters, Bama Dining is excited to see how they do for the spring.
“We are excited for the students and for getting to partner with the SGA and give the students something they really wanted, we were just so excited to work with the SGA and get this going for the students,” Young said.
