Spring Break
Spirit Unbroken
Kyle Charette
Issue date: 2/9/07 Section: News
This is the second in a two-part series about dining carts on-campus, as well as the people behind them.
Aside from Lizzie Searing of Lizzie's Curbside Cuisine, Vickie Howlett is the only other independent food vendor left on campus and has also been struggling in the shadow of the new Student Union Food Court.
Sales have been "very down," Howlett said, "and the weather doesn't help."
Her experience plays a pivotal role in her history of success, however, as she is part of the family that started it all 45 years ago.
It was her father, John Howlett, who first began the food vendor service at UConn in 1962.
According to Howlett, her father started off traveling from one construction site to another serving coffee and donuts in the morning and coming back later to serve lunch.
After he began serving the construction workers at UConn, "the students and everybody wanted him to stay there because there wasn't any eating places on campus at that time," she said. "The students petitioned, and the university said 'OK' and set up some sites."
Since then, Howlett, and her siblings Bonny, Sally, David and Steven have all owned and worked in the food wagons on campus.
Even her mother Dorothy, who once owned her own food wagon, still makes all the homemade food.
"I keep her working," Howlett said. "She's 76 years old."
Howlett has been shuffled around the campus since 1978, but her big, blue, custom-designed truck is now settled between the Homer Babbidge Library and the Hawley Armory.
Howlett's niece, Amanda Keufner of Willington, took over her other truck behind the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts in September. Keufner is a fresh face in the university's vending industry and has learned a lot about the business during her short time on campus.
"Working here has definitely been an experience," Keufner said. "It's pretty cool because we get to connect on a family level."
Howlett and Searing of Lizzie's Curbside Cuisine both pay per semester to lease their carts' spots, but if the spots were vacated they might never again be up for rent, according to Donald Anderson of UConn Property Management.
Aside from Lizzie Searing of Lizzie's Curbside Cuisine, Vickie Howlett is the only other independent food vendor left on campus and has also been struggling in the shadow of the new Student Union Food Court.
Sales have been "very down," Howlett said, "and the weather doesn't help."
Her experience plays a pivotal role in her history of success, however, as she is part of the family that started it all 45 years ago.
It was her father, John Howlett, who first began the food vendor service at UConn in 1962.
According to Howlett, her father started off traveling from one construction site to another serving coffee and donuts in the morning and coming back later to serve lunch.
After he began serving the construction workers at UConn, "the students and everybody wanted him to stay there because there wasn't any eating places on campus at that time," she said. "The students petitioned, and the university said 'OK' and set up some sites."
Since then, Howlett, and her siblings Bonny, Sally, David and Steven have all owned and worked in the food wagons on campus.
Even her mother Dorothy, who once owned her own food wagon, still makes all the homemade food.
"I keep her working," Howlett said. "She's 76 years old."
Howlett has been shuffled around the campus since 1978, but her big, blue, custom-designed truck is now settled between the Homer Babbidge Library and the Hawley Armory.
Howlett's niece, Amanda Keufner of Willington, took over her other truck behind the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts in September. Keufner is a fresh face in the university's vending industry and has learned a lot about the business during her short time on campus.
"Working here has definitely been an experience," Keufner said. "It's pretty cool because we get to connect on a family level."
Howlett and Searing of Lizzie's Curbside Cuisine both pay per semester to lease their carts' spots, but if the spots were vacated they might never again be up for rent, according to Donald Anderson of UConn Property Management.
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