Guilford Technical Community College in North Carolina is pioneering a new program for culinary students with aspirations to begin a career in food trucks, one of the latest crazes in the food industry.

“We’re so looking forward to being the leader in this,” said LJ Rush, Guilford Technical’s culinary arts instructor.

Guilford Technical will begin its mobile catering and food truck management diploma program, which falls under their culinary arts department, in the fall of 2017. All courses in the program aim to provide students with very specific training that should result in qualifying for “ownership of a food truck,” according to the program’s description.

Guilford Technical is the third largest community college in North Carolina. It offers associate’s degrees, diplomas, certificates and noncredit courses in more than 80 programs of study to students in the Piedmont Triad area. It was founded on the idea of preparing people with skills for technical jobs; that mission continues with this hands-on, one-of-a-kind program.

According to Rush, the idea for the program came from a survey asking students what courses they would like Guilford Technical to offer. The program aspires to enroll 16 culinary students for the inaugural class.

The 42-credit program is expected to take students about a year to complete. The program will cost students about $3,200, plus the price of textbooks and knives needed for classes. After completion, students have the option to continue taking courses at Guilford Technical’s culinary program to obtain their associate’s degree, or begin their food truck business.

Students enrolled in the new program will take traditional courses, just like students in Guilford Technical’s culinary program, as well as specifically targeted courses that will provide students with skills all food truck entrepreneurs should know. Students interested in enrolling can expect to take a mix of courses, from basic cooking skills and safe food preparation, to social media marketing, small business management, and catering cuisine.

The college is converting an old baking lab into a food truck kitchen to accommodate the new program. The small kitchen space will serve to train students in the art of cooking in compact spaces.

In addition to the converted kitchen space, Guilford Technical has a food truck, purchased last fall, which will also serve as a classroom for the food truck program students. The food truck, named “The Green Machine,” is equipped with a grill, griddle, deep fryer, and sandwich station, and allows students to use it as a mobile lab. Since the food truck is state-owned, Guilford Technical cannot profit from food sales. Instead, students are allowed to experiment and cook food as free samples for feedback from the campus and local community.

Guilford Technical’s food truck program is the very first of its kind, catering to the new way people are consuming food today. This presents a whole new field of study for culinary students, a prospect that has the Guilford Technical community excited.