Justin DialYoknapaTaco has been serving Ole Miss students along the right field wall at Swayze Field since 2015, but the steady growth of food trucks’ popularity in Oxford have resulted in increased competition.
LB’s Meat Market now operates a truck, Fergndan’s has a truck that sets up on University Avenue and the YoknapaTaco truck has become a staple for students at Rebel baseball games.
LB’s Meat Market has been in Oxford since 2008, and since then, it’s gotten new ownership along with recently obtaining its own food truck.
“We’ve had to get permits and work with the city of Oxford to try and get set up,” said Greg Jones, owner of LB’s. “We’ve had the food truck open for about eight months. We usually set up between Soulshine and Abner’s.”
While LB’s has experienced success in the past few months with its food truck, it is looking to expand even further. It currently sponsors the Ole Miss baseball and softball teams and has for a few years now. However, despite its close relationship with baseball, the truck is not allowed to set up alongside the YoknapaTaco truck in right field.
“Of course we would love to set up in right field,” Jones said. “We’ve had a lot of people ask why we haven’t set up. That’s not our call. That’s Centerplate’s call.”
Ole Miss Dining Services is responsible for the dining services provided on campus, such as the Student Union, The Pavilion, Rebel Market, P.O.D. Markets and Starbucks. However, Centerplate provides food services for all Ole Miss sporting events, including baseball. It works with the university to determine what food trucks, if any, will be allowed at Swayze. It currently has an agreement with YoknapaTaco that runs through the 2018 season.
“Baseball is really important to us because we’ve established a good relationship with all the players and coaches,” Jones said. “Is it hard for me to sit here, watch the taco truck set up in right field whenever there’s the fourth-largest crowd at the stadium? Yeah, that’s real hard for me.”
YoknapaTaco is currently the only food truck permitted to operate in right field, even though Ole Miss already experimented with multiple trucks prior to 2015.
“When we had multiple food trucks out there three years ago, no one company made money. When we first started doing it, we had three or four trucks. It’s not a big enough market to sustain more than one truck,” said Darren Hubbard, regional general manager of Centerplate.
Jones said he feels a two-truck system would work to improve the fan experience, especially considering the outstanding attendance the Rebels have been getting this year.
“I know they’re redoing right field, and there’s not a lot of room,” Jones said. “We’ve been told that having two trucks out there would be too much, and we’ve also been told that we would be selling similar products to the concessions.”
Jones said he will continue to pursue a spot for his truck in right field and is hopeful that his relationship with the baseball program will benefit him in doing so. LB’s won’t be at Swayze this year, but its status for next season and beyond is still up in the air.
“I’m more than willing to look at other options next year,” Hubbard said. “Every year, we go into the review process with Ole Miss Athletics and look at what we want to do differently. At that moment, YoknapaTaco was still interested, and they’ve been a very good partner to us for three years now.”
In most places, food truck regulations are a lot less strict than in Oxford. In Austin, Texas, for example, one could see 10 food trucks within a square mile. Oxford also places food trucks under restaurant regulations, rather than food truck regulations, which makes it harder for food truck owners to operate.
“There’s just so many rules and regulations you have to go through here,” Jones said. “We had to put in an $1,800 suppression system, and we don’t even need it, but they’re going by restaurant guides instead of food truck guides.”
