Stacy Thacker/Montana Kaimin
The Galloping Griz is a new food truck provided by UM dining services that can be found at the Missoula College West Campus from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and can be found on the University of Montana campus from 9 p.m. to midnight.

From Montana beef burgers and authentic street tacos to meatloaf and mashed potatoes, the new University of Montana dining truck has it all.

The Galloping Griz, which opened this week, offers a breakfast and lunch service at the Missoula College Mondays through Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The dining truck will also be on the UM campus outside of the Lommasson Center Thursdays through Sundays from 9 p.m. until midnight.

“Food trucks are the new trend,” UM concessions manager Ian Waetje said. “We want to be a part of that as well and be able to offer a variety of things.”

For the breakfast and lunch service at Missoula College, the dining truck will offer traditional American grill food such as burgers, chicken sandwiches and fresh salads. They’ll also offer daily specials like pulled pork sandwiches. The late night mountain campus menu will include traditional street food like tacos, quesadillas, chips with queso and more.

The late-night menu fits the average college student’s budget with four tacos for $5 and chips and queso dip for $3.

“The truth is, at night you’re going out, and there’s not a ton of money left over,” Donna Bauck, associate director for retail operations, said. “It’s made for those students that only have a buck or two in their pocket.”

The breakfast and lunch menus are slightly more expensive, with lunch specials running at $6.

In the future, dining services hopes to serve a wide variety of foods from many cultures and plans on doing more research and product development during the summer, Bauck said.

“A lot of it is going to come from feedback from students on campus, what they want to see and what drives them,” she said.

The truck will be used Fridays through Sundays during the day to serve food at other events like athletics and the Spring Thaw Festival on the Oval.

Stacy Thacker/Montana Kaimin
The Galloping Griz late night menu offers food from 9 p.m. to midnight for students on the University of Montana campus. The food truck offers services to the Missoula College West Campus from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. for breakfast and lunch.

Waetje said the truck cost $167,000 and was originally purchased to avoid a $250,000 kitchen renovation at Missoula College.

“We’re able to have way more versatility by having the truck than to pay to do a renovation,” Waetje said.

All of the proceeds from the truck will stay with UM, Waetje said. UM dining services doesn’t use any of the general or state funds and has to generate its own money. A lot of the profits from the dining truck will go toward helping dining services stay self-sufficient.

Because the truck is brand new, projected revenue is hard to assess, Waetje said, but dining services hopes to have the truck paid off within the next few years.

http://www.montanakaimin.com/news/article_c22ea1cc-a1a7-11e2-9083-0019bb30f31a.html

MISSOULA – University Dining Services’ new food truck will begin serving the Missoula College West Campus and The University of Montana main campus on Monday, April 8.

The Galloping Griz will serve breakfast and lunch fare Monday through Friday from 8a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Missoula College West Campus located at Fort Missoula. On the UM campus, the truck will operate from 8:30 p.m. to midnight Saturday through Wednesday on the south side of the Lommasson Center. Payment will be accepted in the form of cash, credit or debit cards, UMoney and Premium Plus dining plans.

UDS purchased the state-of-the-art mobile kitchen after hearing requests for food service at MC’s West Campus and for late-night service on the UM campus.

“You can’t miss this beauty,” said UDS Director Mark LoParco. “When you see the Galloping Griz, stop over and give us a try. The late-night menu will feature authentic street foods, and I’m sure you will like what we’re cooking.”

http://www.kpax.com/news/um-dining-services-expands-options-with-food-truck/

Jan Jasperson, head of purchasing for the University of Montana Dining Services, admires the new “Galloping Griz” food truck moments after it arrived on campus Tuesday morning on a flatbed trailer. The $169,000 truck will serve affordable, quick service food options on campus.

The newest University of Montana “dining room” arrived aboard a flatbed truck Tuesday, rolling onto campus after traveling cross-country from New Jersey.

The maroon, silver and white “Galloping Griz” food truck is now staged outside Washington-Grizzly Stadium and will begin serving food at Missoula College’s West Campus and on UM’s main campus in early April.

“The truck will have double duty, serving Missoula College during the day, then at night it will provide late-night service on the west side of campus,” said Mike Spencer, assistant director of residential dining.

The Missoula College’s West Campus, home to the Department of Industrial Technology, has an aging dining facility where renovations would have cost roughly $250,000. On the main campus, students often respond to Dining Services surveys saying they’d like more late-night food options.

The service area in the back of the truck includes a full generator-powered kitchen.

The Galloping Griz cost $169,000 and travels easily between locations, Spencer said.

It will debut on April 8, the day students return from spring break. It will serve breakfast and lunch food, including “traditional fare” like hamburgers and chicken strips, as well as daily hot meals.

The truck will be staged just outside the existing West Campus kitchen from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Students will be able to order at the window, then take their food “to go.”

At night, the Galloping Griz will serve affordable, quick service options on UM’s campus, Spencer said.

Initially the truck will park on the west side of the campus, near many of the residence halls. It will most likely operate on weekends and on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, starting at around 8:30 p.m., Spencer said.

“We’re going to start at the Lommasson Center. We’re going to look at maybe moving it around on campus,” Spencer said.

The state-of-the-art truck includes a full kitchen run by a generator and includes an air-conditioning unit. Dining Services will hire a student manager to run the late-night service and have existing Missoula College staff run it there, Spencer said.

UM got the idea for Galloping Griz after seeing a similar truck at the University of California Santa Barbara, Spencer said.

“I think it’s starting to become a trend,” Spencer said. “But usually we try to stay ahead of the curve and get out in front of it. The food truck will be a fun environment for our students.”

http://missoulian.com/news/local/um-dining-services-going-mobile-with-new-galloping-griz-food/article_80454008-8614-11e2-a54b-001a4bcf887a.html

credit : Montana.edu

International street food will be celebrated as more than 150 MSU international students from more than 30 countries will prepare and sell food from their native countries when Montana State University hosts its 31st International Street Food Bazaar, set for 4-7 p.m. Saturday, Feb 16, in MSU’s SUB Ballrooms.

More than 30 countries will be represented at the fair. MSU international students will prepare native foods, which will be available for purchase in a market-like atmosphere. Food costs will range from $1-$5  a serving.

International students will perform traditional music or dance. In addition, those attending the festivities will have an opportunity to have their name written in various scripts such as Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, Cyrillic and Bengali.

Admission will be free for MSU students with a CatCard, courtesy of Associated Students of MSU. Children under the age of 10 are also free. For others, admission is $4 for adults and $2 for students ages 10-18.

For more information, contact the Office of Internationals Programs at (406) 994-4031, by email at international@montana.edu, or visit http://www.montana.edu/international/isss/food_bazaar.htm. Those interested in volunteering for the MSU Food Bazaar should contact Geraldine Govaerts at geraldine@montana.edu or (406) 994-4031.

http://www.swmontanamagazine.com/food-from-30-countries-featured-at-international-street-food-celebration/

David Anderson, a business partner at Flathead Burger Company, shows the company’s burger bus in Kalispell. The portable kitchen will serve food throughout the Flathead Valley six days a week at varying locations. photo - Williams/Flathead Beacon

French-trained chef starting mobile Flathead Burger Co.

In cities like Los Angeles and Portland, high-level gourmet chefs are carving out niches in the mobile food market. Richard Cannady sees no reason why he can’t do the same here in the Flathead, while staying true to his French-trained culinary leanings and continuing his pursuit of the perfect burger.

Cannady, the manager and chef at Bullman’s Wood Fired Pizza in Kalispell, is preparing to launch the Flathead Burger Co. with his business partner David Anderson. The truck, purchased from Los Angeles, is ready to go, emblazoned with a logo and decked out with a full kitchen.

As of June 2, Cannady was working with the Flathead City-County Health Department preparing to get his truck up and running within the next couple of weeks.

“I’ve been working on this whole concept for three years,” Cannady said.

The truck itself is an important part of Cannady’s vision. It was previously used for a Los Angeles meals-on-wheels program called “Cart for a Cause” in which celebrity chefs would cook food for charity. Cannady said many notable chefs used the vehicle, including Wolfgang Puck, which is a testament to its capabilities as a mobile kitchen.

“There’s a lot of history behind it,” Cannady said. “I fell in love with that truck.”

Once Flathead Burger Co. gets full clearance, Cannady plans to be out six days a week – Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 or 9 p.m. – in a variety of locations throughout the Flathead, primarily based in Kalispell with a focus on parking lots. He will also attend special events such as arts and crafts festivals.

The menu has 15 burgers plus hot dogs and fries, though additions such as salads may come with time, Cannady said. Everything will be made from scratch. The burgers will be ground down from cuts of beef and the hot dogs will be made from beef and pork – none of the “nasty” stuff often associated with hot dogs, he said.

“We’ll buy local as much as we can,” Cannady said.

David Anderson, a business partner at Flathead Burger Company, shows the company’s burger bus in Kalispell.

The fries will be cut in house and the dipping sauces will be freshly made. One of the burgers is vegetarian black bean and another is seafood, to be made from salmon or tuna. The beef burgers will be crafted to meet Cannady’s perfectionist tastes, which his partner Anderson said bodes well for customers.

“He has what he thinks is the perfect burger,” Anderson said.

While Cannady will be heavily involved in food preparation for Flathead Burger Co., he also will continue his duties as manager of Bullman’s. When he has days off from Bullman’s, he’ll be at the truck.

“I’ve hired some good local cooks to run it,” he said.

Cannady has traveled across the world expanding his culinary prowess and spent a year training in France. And no matter where he goes, he yearns for burgers. He is a connoisseur of the “big, juicy, sloppy burger.”

“Everywhere I’ve gone I’ve eaten burgers – I’ve kind of gathered ideas from all over the place,” he said.

“I’ve eaten burgers all my life,” he added, “and when you get a really good one, it’s amazing.”

Flathead Burger Co. can be found on Facebook and will eventually have a Twitter page. Weekly schedules and other information will be posted.

http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/article/gourmet_burgers_hit_the_street/23378/