Pony Express to Begin Vending Next Week

Opening menu centers around sliders, tiny plates

Sophie MattsonTHE SANTA CLARANovember 6, 2014

[dropcap]S[/dropcap]tudents on the north side of campus will no longer be forced to make the grueling 10-minute trek to Benson Memorial Center for a bite to eat.

The new on-campus food truck, the Pony Express, will open for business Monday, Nov. 10 in the plaza behind O’Connor Hall.

“I think it’s a refreshing addition, and students will appreciate the nutritious fun factor,” said Jocylen Ashton, director of career management for Business School Graduate Programs.

The debuting Pony Express menu contains options such as the Carolina Slider, which includes buttermilk fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw and barbecue sauce. As a vegetarian option, the Pony Express will sell black bean and quinoa patty sliders with goat cheese, tomatoes and roasted garlic aioli. The truck will also sell house-made potato chips and potato salad as sides, as well as ice cream bars and mini pies. The truck accepts meal points.

It will be open Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m, and light breakfast choices will be available until the 11 a.m. lunch service begins, according to Charles Lewis, assistant general manager of dining services.

Nothing that the food truck will serve, including snacks and beverages, is sold anywhere else on campus, according to Lewis.

“I think that the location is great — this is an under-used part of campus and this will make it the new center of life on campus,” Ashton said.

Jane Barrantes, assistant vice president of auxiliary services, said the idea was not motivated by student requests for additional on-campus dining.

According to Barrantes, the foot traffic on the north side of campus increased after a road leading into campus near O’Connor Hall was blocked off, which made her push for a dining option at that location.

“There was no dining facility on the north side of campus,” Lewis said. “These are plans to continue to expand the campus, and this is the short-term resolution.”

Henry’s Mexican Food and Yum Yum Tree were popular student dining options across the street from the north side of campus, according to Barrantes.

However, Santa Clara owned the property that the two restaurants were on, and demolished the buildings last year in order to build a new Art and Art History Building, which is currently under construction.

The food truck will not just sell food behind O’Connor Hall. After winter quarter, there will be a  Pony Express route around campus between 5 and 9 p.m. The truck will also sell food at a few on-campus sporting events.

 Contact Sophie Mattson at smattson@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.