Texas’ first student food truck unveiled

From Staff Reports

Dallas ISD, in partnership with Intuit, a financial software company, unveiled a student designed and operated food truck, a first-of-its-kind program in Texas.

“Students in multiple career pathways will gain hands-on learning experience as they develop and apply technical, financial and entrepreneurship skills,” Oswaldo Alvarenga, deputy chief of Dallas ISD Strategic Initiatives, said.

This new offering will engage Career and Technical Education (CTE) students by providing practical experience and hands-on learning opportunities. The truck is equipped with a commercial grade kitchen, which will eventually allow culinary art students to serve their prepared food.

“When we decided to launch the food truck program, we thought about Dallas ISD because it has such a strong reputation for being an innovative leader in career and technical education,” Dave Zasada, Intuit vice president, said.

“Kids today can’t be kept engaged with pencil, paper and a book. They want to work on real-world projects and activities, and the food truck program is a great way to do that.” 

Beyond culinary arts instruction, graphic design students will have the opportunity to design a menu, merchandise and more. 

The design (shown above) was created by several students throughout the district in conjunction with Intuit’s graphic design team.

Intuit will provide access to their products, allowing accounting and finance students the tools to develop technical, financial and entrepreneurial skills necessary for business management.

“With the food truck program, participating districts get a brand new, state-of-the-art food truck, and resource guide with all the necessary information for students to learn how to run the food truck like a real business,” Zasada said. 

Dallas ISD is the first school district in Texas, and the third in the country, to launch an Intuit-sponsored food truck.

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