‘We have to make sure it’s successful': NBCC students turn up the heat in friendly competition

Students take over NBCC’s Moncton campus kitchen, serving up mouthwatering dishes.

Inside the kitchen at New Brunswick Community College’s Moncton campus, 57 students are turning up the heat in more ways than one.

“We had to come up with an idea from scratch to do a food truck and then we have to run it for three days,” said Dahiana Lopez, a second-year Culinary Arts Management student.

“We had to come up with a menu, with the pricing, what we were going to do and we have to make sure it’s successful because it’s a competition, so it’s nerve wracking but fun.”

For the first time since 2020, Culinary Arts Management and Restaurant Management students paired up to take part in a Street Food Fest competition, formally known as Food Truck Week.

The three-day event is open to staff, students and the community as up-and-coming chefs, who are set to graduate later this year, take over the kitchen and the lunch menu.

“This is a controlled learning environment. So, if they’re going to make mistakes, we can help them control, we can help them fix so they learn while they go as opposed to going out and thinking ‘I could open a food truck’ and then not necessarily being successful,” said Kevin Roberts, NBCC chef instructor.

“Everything is hinged around essentially their profit margin, as you would in any business. If you don’t make money, you don’t stay open. So, they’ve had to watch the products, watch how much they order, they’ve had to watch how much they produce, they have to watch portion sizing and on down the line. So, at the end of it, some of their marks are geared to how much they actually make at the end of the day.”

Seven different restaurants, featuring unique flavours from around the world, are open for business this week.

Highlighting more than just skill and creativity, NBCC paired up with Savour NB to help showcase local ingredients from businesses around the province.

The restaurants include:

• Cheese on Fire, working with Big Sky and Armadale
• Wrap It Up, in partnership with Crosby Foods
• Hot Press Express, using products from Ocean Breeze Lavender Farm
• Viva Mex, in partnership with Dunn Right BBQ Sauce
• Pop Potatoes, working with Chateau Scoudouc and Le Fermes Digues
• Ramen Rush, using products from La Fleur du Pommier
• Taco Craze, in partnerhsip with Boudreau Meats

“I think right now it’s important to support local, to support New Brunswick businesses and really our goal is to help New Brunswick food and beverage businesses get more visibility and also get more recognition and awareness,” explained Maxime Gauvin, Savour NB executive director.

“It’s a way to get the word out that we have amazing products here in New Brunswick. Some of them are very known and some of them are very unknown and so it’s a visibility initiative in the end.”

Gauvin says this partnership really is a win-win. Students get the chance to see what is available right in their own backyard and producers might discover a new way to eat local products.

“I’m really interested in seeing how some of our local products are actually adapted to international dishes as well,” he said.

A steady line of customers was present for opening day on Tuesday and, while students were nervous, they were excited for the opportunity.

“Our food truck is Ramen Rush Noodle-icious. It’s ramen like the name said. I think it’s a very versatile food and it’s cold outside so something warm and comfy, that was the idea so people would feel nice and it’s like comfort food,” said Lopez.

“We are working with our partners LaFleur du Pommier, so we have apples. We have a special sauce, it’s our apple habanero sauce, and also we have our apple, raspberry tea which features their product.”

Second year Culinary Arts Management student Julie Bourque was part of the Pop Potatoes team.

“We have three kinds of potatoes which is the maple sour cream bacon with green onions and a seafood chowder mix one and the cheeseburger one,” she said.

“We are paired with Chateau Scoudouc and we put it in one of our desserts, which is the maple Brigadeiro and the maple bacon [potato]. So, we cook the maple in the bacon and then the fat left over with the maple we mix into the sour cream. So, we do a drizzle of sour cream with a bacon crumble and some green onion and cheddar cheese.”

The pop-up restaurants are open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

The cash only event is open to everyone.

For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.