“Did somebody say food trucks!” With over 4,000 registered vehicles rolling along these Los Angeles city streets, food trucks have never been more popular. Their offerings range from everyday traditional street fare to gourmet culinary cuisine, making them the perfect subject for the 6th-grade project-based learning unit, “Design a Food Truck.”
Our young, 6th-grade entrepreneurs are taking the multidisciplinary skills they have learned and using them to create a start-up plan to run their own food truck businesses. They have been given free rein to design their food menus, as well as equip and decorate their trucks. Mrs. Jones has created a business incubator environment where students work alongside one another to build their own individual projects while supporting and learning from one another.
They first worked their way through a series of structured assignment packets, which guided them through some of the many decisions a business person has to make. They used math skills to scale up recipes, calculate the area, perimeter, and volume of equipment needed, draft budgets, purchase ingredients, and price their food. The classroom was abuzz with student excitement as they first expressed shock over how little they could purchase from the supply list provided. Shock quickly turned to glee as they realized cheaper supplies could be found online. All week, students could be heard exclaiming some version of, “Yes! Finally! I’m $100 under budget!” Coincidentally, as part of their research, they were able to take a quick tour around The Habit truck when it was here to cater Crestview’s 39th birthday party.
Student creativity was also tapped as our young entrepreneurs were tasked with designing and decorating their trucks, as well as creating descriptive menus, logos, music playlists, social media strategy, and company merch (t-shirts). The unit culminates in a “festival” during Open House, where all models and business plans will be on full display. All are welcome to stop by and take a look at their incredible designs!