Dining Services has stopped the weekly Food Truck Monday event to focus on themed meals and special events for the students throughout the spring. 

According to the Director of Dining Services Errol Huffman, Dining Services has been working on implementing different food options, like the Biblio Café in the library and more dinner events since the staffing issues experienced last semester have improved. As a result, the food trucks are no longer needed.  

Last semester, Dickinson College provided food trucks for students every Monday, free of charge, in response to staff shortages in the Dining Hall. Food trucks like Potato Coop, Mel’s Rock N BBQ and 717 Tacos provided a limited menu for students to choose from without having to use a meal swipe. However, this semester Dining Services has opted to stop the food trucks to focus more on special events in the Dining Hall. 

Some students said they are disappointed about the absence of Food Truck Monday. “I went to them [food trucks] because the quality of the food they sold was top notch, and it was a break from the caf food,” Andrew Kelley ’26 said. Kelley went almost every week and is disappointed that the food trucks would not be returning. “Theme dinners do seem cool, but I feel like they wouldn’t be as frequent as the food trucks,” he said.

Last semester, staff shortages caused certain dining options to remain closed, like the Biblio Café in the library. However, according to Huffman, increased wages and recruiting events over the past two years have helped combat staffing issues. 

With staffing shortages improving, the dining staff is able to trade the food trucks for themed dinners. Huffman and the dining team have plans for Fat Tuesday on February 21 and several picnics throughout the Spring. On Fat Tuesday, there will be Fastnachts at breakfast and lunch which are traditionally served the day before Ash Wednesday. Dining Services will be using a Pennsylvania-Dutch recipe that uses potatoes and shortening. There will also be fried oyster Po’boys for lunch. 

For Mardi Gras dinner, there will be options like shrimp and crawfish etouffee over jasmine rice, french dip beef, hush puppies and Cajun breaded wings. Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie and King Cake will be among the dessert options. 

During March and April there will be three themed outdoor picnics for students to attend, starting with Major League Baseball Opening Day on March 30. Menus are not final, but Huffman plans to serve Bricker’s Fries and Bayman’s Kettle Corn, along with a cotton candy machine, birch beer garden and a beer tent for those of legal drinking age. 

The other two events will be a Lunch Picnic for Red and White Day, celebrating athletics on April 15, and Spring Fest with a Clam Boil theme on April 29. The Dining Hall will not be open when there is a picnic during that meal.

Last semester, themed meals included the Thanksgiving Dinner and the Holiday Buffet, where food was served in a buffet style with a wider range of food options instead of students going up to get served at the counter.

“I think, you know, when people are here, and they’re away from home, they really like the idea of being able to celebrate a holiday or eat food that reminds them of home or some sort of community event,” Sofia Getoff-Scanlon ’26 said. Getoff-Scanlon worked the Holiday Buffet and Thanksgiving dinner last semester and found that more people tended to attend these sorts of events.

“I’m someone that does pretty well in a fast paced environment. So I, personally, didn’t find it to be stressful, but it was definitely more fast paced,” said Getoff-Scanlon. “I’m excited to go [to themed dinners] just as a student because the past couple of themed dinners I’ve just been working at. So I’m definitely looking forward to going with my friends and enjoying it from that side of things.”