After a four-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, food vendor trucks have returned to El Camino College, with about 22 trucks offering services to the campus community.

Food trucks made their way back onto campus on Aug. 26 after ECC authorized Pacific Dining, a food management company that has been overseeing Café Camino and El Cappuccino Café, to operate food trucks on May 20.

Terms of the new contract for Pacific Dining to oversee and operate food trucks began on July 1 and will run until June 30, 2025. The new terms include an option to renew for another two years.

“Students wanted a variety [of food trucks],” Julie Bourlier, who serves on the Food Service Committee said.

Associated Students Organization represented students who expressed displeasure with limited food options in a resolution approved by the Senate of ASO. In addition, students wanted a variety of cuisines made available to the campus.

Best Food Trucks, which has a partnership with Pacific Dining and operates various food trucks at ECC, boasts 5,400 trucks across the nation, serving 1,900 cities.

Tyler Strohl, the primary advisor to ASO, said there are approximately 22 food trucks in the Los Angeles area.

Best Food Trucks selects and rotates different food trucks each day to serve the campus community, offering a diverse selection of cultural cuisines.

“In talking with Pacific Dining, their goal is to get as many options as they can to students to see what works,” Strohl said.

The contract states the food management company pays the college district an undetermined percentage of food sales, including paying 1% of the utilities Pacific Dining uses to operate on campus.

In addition, the college receives 5 to 12% in commission from Pacific Dining netted from Café Camino and El Cappuccino, 5 to 12% in commission of in-house catering revenue, and 5 to 12% in commission on external catering revenue.

ASO also receives $1,000 in free catering annually.

Max Elias, was has owned a Mediterranean-cuisine food truck for more than a decade, brought his services to campus for the first time.

He enjoys serving the campus community with a variety of dishes that include lamb cooked in different styles. Those styles include tacos, gyro and sliders.

“I’ve had this food truck since 2010, almost 15 years and it just started on the campus,” Elias said. “It’s been lovely.”

The price range for his dishes run anywhere from $6 to $16.

Some students on campus have been pleased with the food options on campus.

One of those students is 20-year-old welding major Madison Seager.

She purchased a plate of taquitos from a food truck for the first time on campus on Sept. 5 from The Surfer Taco food truck, which offers Mexican-style cuisine.

She said Café Camino and food trucks on campus are beneficial for the campus community.

“I think both have good options, I don’t really have a preference,” Seager said.

Kyle Cobabe, a 29-year-old accounting major, believes that the food trucks enhance the atmosphere on campus.

“I think having food trucks on campus is a smart idea because it creates a living-on-campus type of vibe,” Cobabe said.

Abigail Sucup, a 19-year-old economics major expressed her excitement about the arrival of different food types on campus.

“The new food on campus will be able to provide the satisfaction that comes from food,” Sucup said. “The food trucks satisfied not just my hunger, but my soul.”

The food trucks operate Monday through Thursday from noon to 5 p.m. between the Social Sciences and South Gymnasium.

Union staff writers Julissa Celis, Miliana Cienfuegos and Bailey Meacham contributed to this story.

Editor’s note:

• Additional information was placed into the story on Sept. 19 at 12:47 p.m.