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Kevin Brown was like a kid in a candy store as he opened the doors of Chippewa Valley Technical College’s newly acquired Culinary Management Mobile Food Lab during the trailer’s reveal Wednesday, Nov. 10.

“This mobile lab gives our students many opportunities they might not have had during their education here,” said Brown, CVTC’s Culinary Management chef instructor. “Food trucks are now a large part of our communities’ culinary experience. Using this mobile lab to bring our curriculum into other communities and to give our students a broader view of the culinary world is exciting.”

Brown gave tours of the 24-foot specially designed trailer that was donated to the college by Silver Spring Foods recently. The generous gift is estimated at $40,000.

Eric Rygg, President of Silver Spring Foods, said the Eau Claire-based condiment company previously used the trailer as a food truck at local events like Oktoberfest in Chippewa Falls and Farm Technology Days in Eau Claire.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic it’s been sitting idle in a garage,” he said. “We’re happy to donate this to our community partner. We support the Culinary Management program at CVTC and its future chefs.”

In one sense, the trailer turned mobile food lab will be used to promote the program’s public facing restaurant, 620 West, with its diverse cuisine. On the other hand, culinary students will learn the intricacies of cooking in a small space and specifically a food truck.

Current Culinary Management Student Erica Jones, 24, of Eau Claire, attended the mobile food lab reveal and is excited for the opportunity to cook in the trailer.

“It’s actually fairly large. I’ve cooked in spaces smaller than that,” Jones said. “It’s not just for finger foods. We have the capabilities to prepare any kind of food in that space.

"The whole point of the Culinary Management degree is to prepare us for cooking in the real world, so the mobile lab is going to be incredibly educational because food trucks are becoming more and more popular.”

Brown said the lab is being set up for winter storage but come spring the goal is to travel to several CVTC campuses to share food prepared by students.

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