A plethora of red, orange and green vegetables from tropical dragon fruits to large Midwestern corn ears fill the baskets. Farm-fresh honey and sweet fruits attract those with a sweet tooth. Chefs call out the crowd’s food orders — unique drinks and foods customized to the season. Welcome to UTD’s monthly pop-up farmer’s market.
The farmer’s market sets up every fourth Tuesday of the month, typically at the Plinth, selling locally- sourced vegetables, fruits and other farm-fresh goods such as honey and jams. Chartwells, UTD’s dining services catering company, buys these items in bulk from local Texas farmers such as Side Pea Farms in Canton and Village Farms in Marfa, and helps set up and showcase each farmer’s contributions. This provides financial support to the local food economy and allows UTD students easier access to fresh produce, while providing a new perspective into the distribution of food.
“It encourages local business and local produce, [and] encourages [non]-Cisco products and [sharing] local produce with the Gen-Z population [on campus],” Sai Vishnu Koripalli, a 2024 alumni and marketing analyst for Chartwells, said. Cisco is a multinational corporation that distributes food products, including much of the produce typically available at a grocery store or supermarket.
The pop-up market stands out to students by going beyond what traditional pop-up markets offer, where in most cases available produce is limited to vegetables. UTD has worked with chefs at Chartwells to design menus specific to the pop-up theme for each month, selling freshly made food from the traditional grilled cheese sandwich to the unique Halloween-themed punch at the most recent pop-up in October, which garnered student interest for its uniqueness.
“I think it opens up people’s perspectives on what is possible to be made,” computer science junior Suchita Mamindla, who shops at the farmer’s market, said. “A lot of times [at grocery stores] it’s just a basket of everything, and even if you like to cook you may be overwhelmed by the options, and whenever you have a food station [like the pop-up] you start thinking creatively and get inspired ideas from it.”
For students like Mamindla who have been cooking since high school, the farmer’s market has been a source of creativity in the dishes they prepare.
“I don’t shop for the dish, I shop and then make the dish [from the pop-ups],” Mamindla said. “It is a cool experience. I see a lot of people perusing and looking at the different options.”
For Koripalli, analyzing data behind the pop-up market allows him to go beyond his role as a marketer and become a global citizen, giving him an opportunity to pinpoint areas of food wastage, such as types of produce that students purchase less, and follow ethical guidelines around sustainability and limiting food waste. Along with focusing on environmental impacts, UTD’s farmer’s markets have also begun to focus on problems like food insecurity among students.
“I get to see customer behavior and customer experience [in real time],” Koripalli said. “We found many food insecurities amongst students. We always thought of doing these farmer’s markets at low prices [for it to be] affordable and efficient.”
The pop-up market also allows for a place to share cultural knowledge and grow socially, according to Koripalli and Mamindla. Koripalli said that in the Eastern Hemisphere, many pop-ups occur daily, often outdoors with local farmers providing food. Socialization comes through people who attend them interacting with sellers and other buyers, striking up conversations just by being present. On the other hand, for Mamindla, it provides an experience for both buyers and people who simply want to look at options, and a place for friends to share in familiar and new local produce alike.
“Gen Z wants a seamless experience, for example, ordering from [apps] — everything is online so there is not much interaction between a salesperson and the consumer,” Koripalli said. “[In] the farmer’s market, people will ask many questions about the farmers and food, it is a lot more interaction based.”
The next pop-up market, scheduled for Nov. 19, will be the last pop-up of the semester. It is anticipated to have an Indian street food theme, the first of its kind. The pop-ups accept Meal Money, Comet Cash, all credit and debit cards and Apple Pay.
“It is an eye-opening experience for people who [have not been] to pop-ups,” Mamindla said. “For people who have not been to farmer’s markets, getting an opportunity to try new things gets the spark going.”