If grilled cheese sandwiches stuffed with bacon and chicken fingers sound like a perfect addition to your Saturday night, take heart in the news that exactly this sort of fare will soon grace the Smith Union parking lot. A weekend food truck, run by Steve Borukhin '14, Isaac Brower '13, and Eric Edelman '13 will cater to late-night carb cravings long after Super Snacks closes its doors.
Borukhin first approached Edelman, a soccer teammate and fellow foodie, about the possibility of starting a business in the spring of last year.
Their plans really took off, however, after they learned that Brower, an acquaintance of theirs, already owned a fully-functional food truck, out of which he runs Duo's Takeout in Rockland during the summer.
"Once we had a truck at a set cost, that was when we knew that we had a chance to be profitable," said Edelman.
Brower's experience running Duo's seafood stand compelled Edelman and Boruhkin to bring him on as third partner in what would become their company, Campus Food Trucks.
"He had actually thought about bringing the truck to campus, but he didn't have the energy or the team to do it by himself," said Edelman of Browser. "It was a great situation where we were willing to put the work in, but didn't have the physical capital, and he had the capital, but not necessarily the time to do the work."
According to Edelman, their original timeline had them set to launch by the first week of school, but administrative concerns halted progress in late August.
Negotiatons with the school "had many phases and took a lot of time," said Borukhin. "We were told 'yes' coming out of last year, in early August we were waiting on a contract and they nixed it, changed their minds."
According to Director of Student Life Allen Delong, the delay stemmed in part from difficulties in outlining how exactly the administration was going to interact with the fledgling enterprise.
Campus Food Trucks, they decided, fit neither the profile of a typical student organization nor that of an outside commercial vendor.
"This was a new one for us," said Delong. "It's not like last year someone did a food cart and we could just use that model; a lot of administrators wanted to weigh in."
Liability was also a concern. Delong said the school needed to be sure that Edelman, Borukhin and Brower would aquire the required permits and follow regulations.
"If you were to buy a falafel and get sick, would you say, 'I got sick at Eric Edelman's food cart,' or 'I got sick at Bowdoin dining?'" Delong said. "We needed to think those things through, administratively."
A visit to Brower's seafood stand, however, helped convince Delong that the students were, as he put it, "the real deal."
"I drove out to Rockland just to have the sandwich. Isaac's mom was there, there were all these regulars coming up, and that's when I was like 'OK, I'm hooked,'" he said.
Despite a few lingering points of contention—the trio is still pushing for a OneCard reader in the truck—they were able to settle on a contract with the College. Edelman says he is confident that the relationship between the company and the administration will be a positive one.
So, after almost a year of planning, negotiation and false starts, the trio is nearly ready to introduce their late-night fare to the student population. They have passed a health inspection, filed as a business with the Town of Brunswick, paid for a food license, and hired a graphic artist to design a logo. At this point, only Maine's freezing temperatures stand in their way.
"Our fire inspection is this week and after that we're just waiting on the weather," said Edelman. "We're looking at late February, early March."
The trio plans to run Thursday through Saturday from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. and hopes to hire a team of students to operate the truck in three-hour shifts.
According to Borukhin, they will pay "more than the pub, probably around $10 an hour."
The menu will consist of standard American dishes like burgers, wraps, fries, and onion rings as well as "falafel for the vegans" and a rotating menu of specials, which, Edelman says, could incorporate some of his more creative ideas, such as fried Oreos.
Working together this year has compelled the men to carve out their individuals responsibilities and strengths in the company.
"We all bring different things to the table," says Edelman. "Isaac has hands-on experience—he's run a business like this before, Steve has a really great mix of restaurant experience and business experience, and I would say that I'm focused almost exclusively on the business side."
Borukhin echoed this sentiment, noting that Edelman's comparatively diplomatic demeanor has been useful in negotiating with the College and town.
"I mean, I could have never spoken to Allen or, who's the other guy? Foster? I would have lost it."
Ultimately, despite what they say has seemed like a long road at times, the trio is still optimistic about their prospects.
"One thing I've been struck by is how enthusiastic people are when we tell them about this idea. That has been really rewarding and really encouraging," said Edelman.
"There's a lot of excitement about this idea, from staff too," noted Delong.
Edelman has lofty hopes for Campus Food Trucks at Bowdoin.
"I think the name tells you a little about our goals, but we want to be able to say that Campus Food Trucks started at Bowdoin."
He paused for a second.
"The CEO of Netflix is a Bowdoin grad, that's pretty cool."