RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Move over Culinary Chameleon and Bear Tracks, there’s a new food truck in town. Starting this fall, UCR is rolling out the Moo Moo Udderly Twisted truck, which will feature ice cream and other dessert options. The truck made its debut during freshmen welcome week and Block Party, but aims to hold its official launch on Nov. 1.
UCR Executive Director of Dining Services Cheryl Garner said in an email interview that the truck was purchased at an online auction for $8,300, but due to design and equipment costs, the overall cost of the truck rose to $170,000. Campus officials expect that the truck will soon pay for itself when it opens around campus.
The new dessert truck is joining the other UCR trucks available year-round: the Culinary Chameleon and the Bear Tracks coffee truck, and is a part of UCR’s long-term goal to incorporate more food trucks into its dining options. “Food trucks allow us to lower our overall investment and maximize our versatility and location by going where the customer is, when they are there,” Garner said in a press release.
“We thought the campus really lacked a dessert option,” said Moses Preciado, the food services manager of all of UCR’s food trucks. “We thought that an ice cream truck would be a nice way to fill the void, especially considering the warm weather that Riverside is known for.”
Students will notice its vibrant design, which is styled to look like a cow. Preciado says the design comes from a combination of staff and student input but adds that, “The initial concept came from thinking, just: ice cream. Milk. Cow. And it just evolved into Moo Moo.”
The menu will feature soft serve ice cream, sundaes, dipped cones, ice cream floats and an original dessert called the Twisted