'Macaroni & Choose' Truck to Open in April

While most students spent J-Term hitting the slopes or catching up on sleep, Maryam Mahboob ’18 was hard at work, albeit outside of the classroom. For Mahboob, J-Term marked a time for fundraising and for the first test of her food startup, Macaroni and Choose (M&C, formerly known as M.A.C.), among Middlebury students.

Mahboob, who thought of the idea during a workshop at MiddCORE last summer, first sought to create a supermarket brand of condiments for macaroni and cheese. Howerer, according to Mahboob, this quickly changed into a project she found more feasible.

“The idea became a late-night mac and cheese food truck on campus, called the M&C Truck, built around the idea that students can choose condiments to enjoy with their mac and cheese, such as fresh thyme, blueberries and tuna,” Mahboob said. “M&C’s primary objective is to provide inexpensive, wholesome, local and organic mac and cheese during a time when such a meal is most needed among students — late at night.”

In order to test the concept, Mahboob gathered some friends and ran one night of delivery over J-term as a test. Despite only advertising through a handful of posters and Facebook posts, the event was a huge success. Another test, this time with a few delivery kinks worked out, is planned for March 18.

After the full launch, which Mahboob hopes to complete by mid-April, M&C will have two main components. One will be the M&C truck, parked in the Proctor parking lot, where students can walk up and order food themselves. The second will be a campus-wide delivery service to those willing to pay a small fee in exchange for macaroni and cheese delivered right to their door. Mahboob stressed that while the truck may not end up being an actual food truck due to logistical difficulties in obtaining a vehicle, M&C will still have a flagship location there in some form.

Through MiddSTART, the College’s crowdfunding site, Mahboob surpassed her goal of $2,000 from members of the Middlebury community. She ultimately raised $2,368 from 51 donors. While Mahboob’s current projection is that the truck will operate at a bit of a loss even if she takes no wages for her work, this is not the plan for long.

“My long-term hope for M&C is that it one day takes the form of a social enterprise, where a portion of the profits goes back into the community,” Mahboob said. “At the moment, however, my hope is that M&C reaches a point of self-sustainability.”

“M&C isn’t just another dining option,” she added. “The difference between M&C and other food ventures on campus is that M&C is built on a dream and is working towards a goal — serving inexpensive, wholesome, late-night mac and cheese to Middkids, while building students’ leadership skills, fostering community relationships and seeking to serve other parts of the community.”