FOOD TRUCKS & MOBILE FOOD FACILITIES
Food Trucks and Mobile Food Facilities are a popular addition to University events and add an exciting element to campus programming. Because food trucks operate differently than traditional caterers, hosting events with food trucks comes with additional considerations and risks that must be properly managed.
The following guidelines are designed to assist event organizers with hosting on-campus events with food trucks.
Food Truck Policy & Key Steps
Event organizers are responsible for reviewing the University Mobile Food Facilities Policy and ensuring that all applicable University policies are followed during events.
After reviewing the policy, event organizers should follow the steps below, and should use the Check-List for Hosting a Food Truck Event as a handy guide.
- Reserve an approved on-campus location.
- Select a preferred- or approved-vendor.
- Coordinate event details with the vendor and campus services, and complete required paperwork.
- Follow through with invoicing and payment.
Choosing a Location
Submit a request in VenueVU for approval and to reserve a campus location for the event. Food trucks are only permitted at designated on-campus locations.
- Be sure to indicate in the VenueVU request that you are interested in hosting Food Trucks.
- Food Truck events may be held in the following designated locations:
- Dougherty Drive
- The Grove
- Mendel Field
- Riley Ellipse (Oreo)
- Rowen Campus Green
If you are interested in requesting a Food Truck event at a campus location not listed above, please first contact University Events to discuss possible alternate location.
Selecting a Vendor
The University has developed relationships with several food truck vendors and recommends the use of these vendors for their convenience, experience, preferred pricing, and compliance with University requirements.
For the safety of our campus community, it is important to use the designated preferred- or approved-vendors.
Linked below, you will find the list of Preferred (those with preferred pricing and terms) and Approved (those that have completed required documentation) Food Truck Vendors. This list of preferred- and approved-vendors reflect food trucks that have already met University requirements and have a Master Mobile Food Facility Agreement (MMFFA) on file with the University. When using these vendors:
- The sponsoring office may contact a preferred- or approved-vendor directly to coordinate the event.
- For each event, the sponsoring office should complete Exhibit A – Statement of Work.
Only Exhibit A needs to be completed - there is no need for a full contract or agreement for each event. Exhibit A does not need to be routed for review and should remain on file with the sponsoring office for future reference.
While the University recommends the use of the existing preferred- or approved- food trucks, departments may also use new food truck vendors if the vendor can meet all University requirements in a timely manner before the event.
Departments may follow the steps outlined below for new food truck vendors.
- The vendor must complete a Master Mobile Food Facility Agreement (MMFFA).
- The MMFFA should be processed in Sirion (Villanova’s Contract Management System). The completion of the MMFFA should begin in Sirion so the agreement can be routed appropriately and provided to the potential new food truck vendor through the system. The department’s Contract Initiator is responsible for submitting the MMFFA in Sirion. See reference instructions below on how the MMFFA is submitted through Sirion.
- Begin new supplier onboarding in PaymentWorks. The potential new food truck vendor must be set up as a new supplier in PaymentWorks. This can begin at the same time as the MMFFA process in Sirion (recommended to start PaymentWorks first, when possible).
- Reference instructions on Procurement's website:
- MMFFA submission in Sirion: "Contract Management System (Sirion)"
- New food truck vendor onboarding: "Vendor Onboarding Process"
- Further questions on onboarding a new food truck vendor or submission of the MMFFA through Sirion can be directed to the Director of Procurement, John Durham.
- The sponsoring office should start this agreement process well in advance of the event.
- It is strongly recommended that event organizers begin this process at least 14 days prior to MFF use to allow sufficient time to secure the necessary documentation before the MFF arrives on campus.
- As part of the agreement process, the food truck vendor must provide:
- A current and valid Mobile Food Facility License from the Delaware County Department of Health; and
- A Certificate of Insurance (COI) evidencing the University’s insurance requirements. COIs are to be provided to Insurance & Risk Management through the “Villanova University COIs for Contracts” mailbox at insurancecertificate@villanova.edu.
New vendors may only be used if they successfully complete all required steps before the event date.
Coordinating With The Vendor
When reaching out to any preferred- or approved- food truck vendor, include the following information:
- Date, time, location, and name of the event
- Name, email address, and cell phone of the event organizer
- Requested menu items or service type (e.g., full menu, limited menu, specialty items)
- Designated number of pre-paid servings requested (if applicable)
- Invoicing details:
- Department name
- Name of event organizer
- Date of the event (must appear on the invoice)
Once all details have been agreed upon, the sponsoring office should complete Exhibit A - Statement of Work and keep it on file for reference.
Service Capacity and Payment Models
Given the nature of food trucks, many vendors can only accomodate a certain number of pre-paid servings within a set period of time (for example, 250 servings over 2 hours), and/or may have a required minimum number of pre-paid servings.
If the event organizer prefers point-of-sale/individual transactions instead of pre-paid servings, vendors may require:
- A minimum expected attendance, and/or
- A guarantee of a certain number of individual sales.
These expectations should be discussed and agreed upon with the vendor in advance.
Coordinate Campus Services
Facilities Management
Event organizers must submit a Facilities Management Event Assistance Work Order to request adequate trash and recycling containers for the event. Be sure to include:
- Date and time of the event
- Location of the event
- Number of food trucks expected
- Event Organizer contact information
Parking
Contact the Parking Office to share basic event details, including location, number of trucks, and day-of contact information. This is especially important if the truck will be parked in a location requiring a parking space(such as on Dougherty Drive).
Event organizers should communicate with vendors about:
- Approved campus entry points, and
- Any ongoing construction or access limitations on campus.
Invoice & Payment
After the event, event organizers should:
- Confirm that invoicing aligns with the terms outlined in the Exhibit A.
- Ensure that all invoices:
- Include the date of the event; and
- Clearly state the department and name of the event organizer.
- Submit food truck invoices to the Procurement Office for payment processing. All Food Truck invoices should be paid using the Expense Type code: 7804 Other G and A - Food Trucks