Java-on-the-go coming with Starbucks truck

Starbucks is getting wheels and hitting the campus of Coastal Carolina University this fall. In one of three pilot programs across the country, CCU joins Arizona State University and James Madison University with Starbucks trucks that will offer coffee drinks-on-the-go in changing, mobile locations.

The special, highly branded truck is scheduled for delivery Aug. 22, according to Jeff “Food Man” Stone, director of food service operations for Aramark, the university’s food supplier. Two weeks of staff training, a test run, and the truck should be operational the week of Sept. 2.

The fully licensed, 28-foot truck, including a 20-foot trailer, will offer everything that Starbucks retail shops offer minus the merchandise.

“It’s not like an ice cream truck where you run up to the window, get your ice cream, and it moves on,” cautions Stone. The truck goes to a location for several hours at a time, goes back to base camp (CINO Grille) to restock and refill, then moves to another location, and the cycle repeats.

The truck’s weekday schedule will begin at University Place from 7 to 11 a.m., then Prince Lawn from noon to 4 p.m. and back to University Place from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Weekend hours will be different, says Stone, with Starbucks and the Rowdy Rooster partnering at night. The truck will take all kinds of payment from cash to credit cards, dining dollars and CINO cash. The same kind of music that you hear at a brick-and-mortar Starbucks will emanate from Starbucks the truck.

“We are giving students more opportunities to get what they need where they need it,” says Stone. “We are bringing it to them. It’s a grab-and-dash concept.”