By Iris Shipley, Grace Prust, Ashley Harrison, & Rianna Jones
Food Truck Fridays made a comeback to the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (UWGB).
This event has been held in the past and made its return. Multiple food vendors from different cuisines in the Green Bay area were stationed outside the University Union guest parking lot from 11:00 am-1:00 pm starting on Friday, April 14th. This four-part series ran from Friday, April 14th to Friday, May 5th.
“This was started as a Student Government initiated the request,” says Matt Suwalski, the University Union Director at UWGB, “and we have continued to support it for a second year due to the demand from last year.” Local food trucks featured this year included Carjacks Patty Wagon on April 14th, Caribbean Cruiser on April 21st, Blue Suede Foods on April 27th, and Gourmet Corn Yucatan Cuisine on May 5th.
The Caribbean Cruiser was on campus on April 21st and featured foods like jerk chicken, pulled pork, shrimp tacos, Cubanos, and island Mac n’ cheese. On their website, the owners say their mission is to bring the taste and hospitality of island life to NorthEast Wisconsin. There was a steady line at the food truck for the majority of the two hours it was parked in the University Union guest parking lot.
Students gathered in the University Union parking lot are waiting for their food from Caribbean Cruiser. Photo: Iris Shipley
Students and staff had positive opinions to say about the food and service from Caribbean Cruiser. Food Truck Fridays are known on campus to have long lines and wait times, but that didn’t seem to be an issue that Friday. Assistant Director of the Student Engagement Center, Adam Novotny, thinks the wait was definitely worth it. He says, “For food like this, I will gladly wait.”
UWGB students Roger and Olivia say the food motivated them to come to Food Truck Fridays as well. “It’s a little different than just burgers, pizza, and chicken,” says Roger. The two students also say that the wait for food was “definitely worth it” and a new experience for both of them.
On April 28th, the next food truck to come to UW-Green Bay’s campus was Blue Suede Foods. Their menu included sandwiches, sliders, chicken wings, and beer cheese fries. Blue Suede describes the food they offer as an “eclectic array of traditional and unique comfort foods with fresh flavor.” Their website says they partner with other local businesses and breweries to make their well-known beer cheese fries.
Snapshot of Blue Suede Foods famous beer cheese fries. This was one of the most well-known items on their menu. Photo: Iris Shipley
Students that went to get food from Blue Suede Foods felt similar to Caribbean Cruiser regarding the wait times and the quality of food. Multiple students mentioned that they enjoyed getting to enjoy the time outside. Another UWGB student says, “I never get to try community foods unless I really search off campus, and even then, it’s just restaurants. To find somewhere that I can’t really search up on Google is really nice.”
Novotny thought that this was what Food Truck Fridays’ were for. He says, “I think it connects the community food trucks from the Green Bay area and brings them to campus and introduces students to something they might not usually see.” All of the food trucks from the four weeks were local and can be found around Green Bay at events like the Farmer’s Market on Broadway and similar events.