A new ‘alternative’ on campus

The Alternative

YSU freshman Aspen Glaspell (right) orders a pulled pork sandwich from The Alternative food truck on Wednesday. Frank Mason (left) and his wife Sue, from Slippery Rock, Pa., decided to bring their truck to YSU after visiting a friend in an area hospital. Photo by Chris Cotelesse/The Jambar.

As Youngstown State University weighs its options on food service carriers for next year, a husband and wife duo say they’ll do their best to fill students’ stomachs “until it starts snowing again.”

Frank and Sue Mason, restaurant owners from Slippery Rock, Pa., fired up their fryers for the second day at YSU, serving burgers and barbeque on Lincoln Avenue from The Alternative food truck.

Frank Mason said they’ll be there five days a week from 10:30 a.m. until late afternoon, as long as the weather permits.

In Slippery Rock, the couple owns another truck stand alongside a restaurant. For Mahoning County, the couple was able to get a vendor’s license to sell their goods.

Sue Mason said that when they came to Youngstown to visit a friend at a local hospital, they saw that the students at YSU needed more food service.

“We saw that you guys just didn’t really have too much,” Sue Mason said. “We decided to see if we could bring the food truck over here and kind [of] see how it goes.”

They hope to serve food at homecoming and other YSU events.

“I find college kids eat and need something better than, say, McDonald’s. This is all fresh-made food,” Frank Mason said.

Aspen Glaspell, a YSU freshman, ordered a pulled pork sandwich with cheese fries for lunch on Wednesday. He had class near Lincoln Avenue and wanted to try something new.

“It’s a long walk to get from all the way over here and back over to Christman,” he said. “I’ve seen [the food truck] before, and I never actually went to it. So, I figured I’d see what it was.”

Glaspell said he enjoyed his meal and said he will be back another day.

Frank and Sue Mason said they’d be open to menu suggestions from students.

“We’re just geared for the students,” she said. “You guys have taken out school loans galore to go to school. You need somewhere that you’re [going to] get a [half] decent meal at a decent price with a decent quantity of food.”

For more information on The Alternative food truck, contact the Masons via email at [email protected] or on Twitter @foodalternative.