Oct. 25, 2024
San Lorenzo Schools cut the ribbon on its new mobile kitchen food trailer on Oct. 24 at Colonial Acres Elementary School, and then the vehicle served students for the very first time. Essentially a food truck without an engine, the trailer is the only one of its kind among school districts in Alameda County. It has two refrigerators, two warmers, a six-burner stove and a hand-washing sink.
“A lot of our students have never had the experience of getting food from a food truck,” said SLZUSD Child Nutrition Director Peter Oshinski, “and it’s a really unique way of getting students excited about eating.”
Following a brief ceremony, Colonial Acres students lined up to get their meal of freshly prepared macaroni and cheese from the mobile kitchen’s serving window and then take it to the cafeteria to eat.
The district purchased the custom-made, 13-foot mobile kitchen for $73,000 from Newark Food Trucks using COVID recovery funds from the state’s Kitchen Infrastructure and Training funds. The trailer was delivered in July and has been used once on a test run to serve school board members on one of their regular meeting nights.
In addition to making at least two visits to each of the district’s 16 school sites throughout the year, the unit will be used at district and community events, as well as for public service during emergencies, Oshinski said. It can be plugged in to an outlet for run on a self-contained generator.
The district received the custom-made, 13-foot mobile kitchen in July, and it has been inspected and licensed by the Alameda County Department of Public Health. The unit was purchased for $73,000 from Newark Food Trucks using COVID recovery funds from the state’s Kitchen Infrastructure and Training Funds.
Superintendent Dr. Daryl Camp said the new equipment supports one of the district’s new strategic plan goals, to provide a “supportive, effective and excellent learning environment.”
“We want our students to eat here on campus and to feel excited about what they’re eating and how they’re eating,” Dr. Camp said.