Students McClain Schieltz and Brett Doherty opened Munchies Chicken and Waffles — the first student-owned food truck on campus — on Monday, Aug. 25. Located in front of Crosby Hall, the truck aims to provide a late-night food option for students.
“We came up with the idea just thinking about how we struggled to get food later at night our freshman year,” Schieltz, a junior sports management major from Overland Park, Kan., said.
While the majority of on-campus dining options close by 8 p.m., Munchies stays open as late as 2 a.m.
Doherty and Schieltz found success within their first week of opening, selling out their first four nights.
“It has slowed down a bit, but most nights we are still serving over 100 students,” Schieltz said.
Both the truck’s food and operating hours have drawn positive reviews from its customers.
“I got chicken and plain waffles, and it was really good. It wasn’t that long of a wait,” Ava Petro, a sophomore general business major, said. “I was there around 11:30 p.m. and it was really convenient because it’s hard to find breakfast food on campus past 11 p.m.”
Cristina Chiovari, a freshman studies major, agrees that the truck is convenient for on-campus students.
“I went around 12 a.m., and just got a plain waffle and it was so good and also really convenient to have on campus at that time,” Chiovari said.
Schieltz and Doherty also described the process of starting the business with the support of the university.
“The Ole Miss Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship has helped us the most with getting our business started,” Schieltz said. “We met with CIE starting in December of last year — when our business was just an idea. They helped us through the idea generation and how to form the business.”
Schieltz gave credit to their mentor Owens Alexander, an entrepreneurship instructor in the UM School of Business Administration.
“He helped with pretty much everything — from getting taxes set up, to creating a business plan,” Schieltz said. “Now that our business has been created, he helps us with scaling and attracting more customers.”
Even with this help, the pair had difficulty meeting the demand early on.
“When we first opened, it was just us two and our girlfriends, but after the first few days we quickly realized that we will need some help,” Schieltz said. “We quickly hired six to eight people and have a really good schedule set up.”
The work-life balance was also a problem, the pair highlighted.
“At first, balancing school work and the food truck was challenging, but in the past couple weeks we have hired some employees who have helped with the work load a ton,” Schieltz said. “We are now working two to three days a week each, instead of the five days a week we started with.”
The truck is located in the Crosby Hall parking lot next to the stairs leading to Residence Hall 1. It is open on Tuesday to Thursday from 8 p.m.-1 a.m., Friday to Saturday from 9 p.m.-2 a.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
