Grease Trucks

Grease trucks were a group of food trucks located on the College Avenue campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. They are known for serving, among other things, "Fat Sandwiches," a sub roll containing a combination of ingredients such as burgers, cheese, chicken fingers, french fries, falafel, and mozzarella sticks.

In August 2004, Maxim Magazine's top sandwich in the nation was awarded to the "Fat Darrell," a sandwich invented by a student named Darrell Butler and commonly served by these trucks. Grease trucks have become an integral part of campus culture, serving as a meeting and hangout spot. Grease trucks were named the number one post game activity in the country by Sports Illustrated On Campus in 2005, in spite of being located on the opposite side of the Raritan River from Rutgers Stadium.

Grease trucks were removed from their long time location in August 2013, with plans to be relocated throughout the New Brunswick and Piscataway campuses. RU Hungry has escaped the trucks and now has a storefront location at 93 Hamilton St on Rutgers Campus.

Starting in the early 1980s, food trucks licensed by the city of New Brunswick parked along College Avenue, most clustered near Voorhees Mall, where there is a high concentration of classroom buildings on the campus. A few were as far north as Brower Commons, about a quarter mile away (thus competing with eateries in the student center and dining hall). Students and visitors could obtain a quick, hot, inexpensive meal during events and between classes. The trucks became known as "grease trucks" due to the popularity of the fried foods they served. A nearby Somerset Street greasy spoon restaurant, "Greasy Tony's," closed by eminent domain in the early 1990s to build University Center at Easton Ave, was part of the local popularity of food-related "grease"-based names of the time.

Since fresh food was prepared on the trucks, they required power for refrigeration, and therefore either idled or ran gasoline generators. In the early 1990s, in an effort to reduce the noise, pollution and visual blight along College Avenue, as the trucks obstructed the view of Voorhees Mall, the trucks were prohibited from parking along the thoroughfare, and Rutgers provided a corner of a faculty parking lot (#8) across the street. The vendors were put under contract with the university, which provided the trucks with space and electricity. Some trucks were open during the day, and others in the evening, with a couple of hours of overlap around dinner time. The trucks would rotate positions within the lot monthly, so that no one vendor would receive a competitive advantage based on location.

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