Texas State University Dining is offering a variety of food options through a rotation of food trucks on the Quad beginning Aug. 26.

The rotating food trucks will be on campus from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday and are stationed between Evans Liberal Arts and Flowers Hall. The current schedule features two new food trucks per day on campus.

“A lot of people want more local food, more diverse food options, more local owner partnerships to take place and I think this is a good direction,” Chin Hong Chua, Chartwells’ resident district manager said.

Students can use Bobcat Bucks, credit or debit cards to pay at the food trucks, according to Chua.

Chua said some food trucks might offer their own apps, allowing students to order ahead or arrange for delivery. However, unlike other campus dining options, food from the trucks cannot be delivered via GrubHub.

As student enrollment numbers increase every year, Texas State Dining’s immediate concern was to have more places for students to eat during lunchtime, Chua said.

Texas State began construction for this project on July 25, and completed it on Aug. 16. The work created a designated area for the food trucks, equipped with electricity and data lines to allow card payments.

During the first week of the food truck rotation Mexican food, burgers, BBQ and wings are some of the food the trucks will serve.

“A lot of these food trucks are either minority or women-owned and they are local,” Chua said. “We will have that rotation on our website so that people know what they will have and what kind of truck is rolling into that location.”

Lady Picoza, a Mexican food truck, was stationed on campus Aug. 26. Owner Gabriela Mondragon moved from Mexico City to Central Texas in 2008 and has been operating for over fourteen years primarily serving at a military base in San Antonio.

Mondragon plans to serve her entire menu, including a variety of vegetarian options. The food and sauces at Lady Picoza are prepared fresh daily, allowing students to customize their orders to suit their preferences, she said.

“I know some students don’t have family here, so we try to make it as homemade and as family cooked style food so they can have that opportunity to eat something healthy as well,” Gabriela’s business partner Deby Mondragon said.

Deby said she plans to continue Lady Picoza’s involvement with the rotating food truck program and return to Texas State’s campus in the future.

Texas State also has a Yapa Empanadas food truck stationed outside Academic Services Building South along with an AJs Ranch Road Grill food truck, which will be available throughout the entire semester.

According to Chua, the food trucks will be evaluated based on their revenue and popularity to assess which food options are sustainable for the campus long-term.

“If the food truck has some healthy elements and [it is] getting a lot of traction you will see more of this kind of food truck on campus, but if it is not, unfortunately [we won’t] be able to sustain it,” Chua said.

According to Whitney Villarreal, director of marketing and guest experience at Texas State Dining, her department conducts surveys each fall to gather student feedback on their preferences and dislikes.

“I feel like we get really good feedback like students are happy with the variety but if they can get more, they want to see more and we’ve seen they want more variety,” Villarreal said.

Madeline Layton, a fashion merchandising sophomore, said the current dining options on campus are lacking fresh, healthy options.

“Food makes everyone happy, and so I think if there is more variety and better food then everyone will totally agree with [food trucks] and love it,” Layton said.

Chua said Texas State Dining has plans to continue to expand and change as the population grows.

One upcoming project is a 24-hour self-service market at the Student Recreation Center, which will feature technology similar to Amazon’s Just Walk Out. Sensors and cameras will track purchases and charge accounts automatically. The market is scheduled to open next year.

Other changes students will see this fall is the transformation of Burger 101 and Blimpie American Sub Shop at The Den to an express dining hall– buffet style like Harris Dining Hall. Blimpie will be relocated to the UAC cafe this school year.

“We will continue to expand and change as student trends do. We have more international students coming so our food options also need to be on par with their expectations,” Chua said.