The Associated Students UCLA board of directors granted permission to a student-run fruit cart business to operate on campus for a trial period at its meeting last month.
The cart will sell fresh watermelon, pineapple, mango, coconut, cantaloupe, and honeydew melon, said the founder, Omeed Paydar, a biomedical engineering doctoral student. He added that buyers will have the option of having their fruit seasoned with salt, lime, and chili powder. He estimates that the introductory price will be $5 a bag.
Paydar said that he hopes that the startup will begin operating by fall 2014.
Rhiannon Koehler, a graduate history student, said she would buy fruit from a fruit cart when it is offered on campus because it would be a better alternative to the chips or candy offered for sale on campus. She added that she thinks many health-conscience students on campus would prefer if the fruit was organic.
The cart would have to be stationed near one of the ASUCLA facilities, such as Lu Valle or Ackerman Union, said Bob Williams, ASUCLA executive director.
During the meeting, some board members expressed the concern that the fruit cart might take fruit sales away from ASUCLA.
Paydar said he is in the process of registering his startup as a company and that he has already reserved the name Miiveh, which means “fruit” in Farsi, with the California Secretary of State.
Paydar tried seasoned fruit for the first time in the summer of 2012 at a fruit cart south of Westwood on the corner of Pico and Sawtelle boulevards.
“I loved it. I never even liked watermelon before. I tried it with these three toppings and I loved it,” he said. Paydar began regularly returning to the fruit cart, but when fall rolled around he found he didn’t have the time to drive over to buy fruit there.
The real motivation to start a fruit cart business came when Paydar found there was not seasoned fruit available near UCLA that he liked, he said.
He decided to start a business in order to bring the fruit to more people, he added.
When he did not receive support from ASUCLA for his plan in September of 2012, Paydar brought his idea to Chancellor Gene Block during Block’s office hours in April 2013 and was connected with Williams. After some discussions, Williams sent Paydar to pitch his plan to the ASUCLA services committee, that subsequently passed the proposal for board consideration.
Paydar has yet to work out the terms of the trial run with ASUCLA management, which Williams says is the most complicated part of the process and will take time to work out. Williams added that the negotiations he will go through with Miiveh will be no different from those for permitting other vendors such as Panda Express or Rubio’s to operate on campus.
The length of the cart’s trial period has not been determined yet.
Min Woo Sun, a first-year economics student, said he doubts that he would buy fruit from a fruit cart if it was offered on campus because he can get fresh fruit from Bruin Plate with his meal plan.
Paydar said that if an on-campus cart is successful, he hopes to expand to other Southern California universities because he does not think the business will be sustainable if only one cart is operating.