The Detroit school district plans to hand out lunch from food trucks in an effort to get students to eat more nutritious foods.
Two food trucks will circulate between high schools in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, bringing students food that isn’t offered in the cafeteria. The meals will be prepared onboard the trucks.
The cost of the trucks — $307,000 — will be covered by a grant from the federal school lunch program. The district is buying the trucks from a Michigan-based company, Food Truck Shop.
The district offers free breakfast and lunch to all of its roughly 50,000 students, but in recent years the participation rate has been stuck at around 70%. District officials hope that offering a “trendier food option” will encourage more students to pick up a school lunch, which must meet federal nutrition standards.
The trucks are expected to serve meals like Philly cheese steaks, street tacos, Asian noodle bowls and mac and cheese. While they will spend much of their time at high schools, elementary school principals will also be able to request a food truck for special events. During the summer, the trucks will participate in Meet Up and Eat Up, a food program designed to help students who don’t have enough food at home.
Skyla Butts, communications manager for the district’s nutrition program, said in a tweet that production of the trucks is set to begin Oct. 1.