Electric food carts help make meals more accessible to students

FARMINGTON, N.M. — We’ve all heard of electric cars, but school food carts? They’re popping up in New Mexico as a way to try to get food easier to students during breakfast and lunchtime.

Recently, both Farmington and Piedra Vista High Schools got electrical food carts.

“With the increased enrollment our lunch lines were getting a little bit longer, and we needed — another option for students to come and get various snacks,” said Kelly Thur, principal of Piedra Vista High School. 

1,600 students is a lot of mouths to feed. The solution they came up with is a mobile food cart.

“The first few days it was curiosity more than anything, ‘what is it?’ ‘Can we drive it?’ That kind of thing, but they have embraced its part of the school now,” said Marie Johnson, Farmington’s student nutrition coordinator.

On Tuesday, it was stocked with burritos, chips, and 10^th grader, Owen Jones’ favorite drink:

“Tropicana, it’s the best juice made in the world.”

Some students prefer having that vitamin C while getting some vitamin D.

“You have students that really enjoy being outdoors and don’t want to take the time to go in and go through the service areas, so my thought was having another point of service outside convenient for them,” Johnson said.

“It’s very convenient because I like to eat outside mostly eat out here, so I don’t have to walk back and forth in and out,” added Jones.

Not only does the cart lessen the crowded lunchtime lines, but it also is electric.

“It’s, of course, better for the environment and cheaper to operate, not having to have fuel made it a lot more conducive for a high school campus,” Johnson said.