Repair U: This Temple grad wants to fix your phone

You may have seen the small, teal truck, "Repair U" while you were running towards your class, or maybe it was when you were starving after having classes back to back and decided that the aromas coming out of Burger Tank were too strong to avoid. But, Repair U has always been right in front of you.

One of Jesse's miracle repairs

In 2013, Temple alum Jesse DiLaura took one of his past times and turned into not only passion, but a whole career in a food truck. Perhaps at any other university this might seem bizarre, but the food truck fits as well with Temple culture as long lines in Anderson do.

The Tab Temple interviewed DiLaura about his business and why it's a favorite on our campus.

How Repair U was created

While at Temple as an Entrepeneurship major, Di Laura knew that he wanted to create and run his own business in the future, however what exactly that business would be, he was unsure of. "I didn't really think that this would be [it]… I started fixing phones because I liked solving problems for student," Jesse said of the beginnings, "that was my passion, not so much phone repair. When a student would come to me, it was because something they loved was broken and so not only could I fix that problem for them, but I could do it in an affordable way [and] a convenient way because I was on campus." And before long, Jesse said, "I think the two converged at some point and I realized, 'Oh, this is the business I want to built."

Founder Jesse DiLaura outside of Repair U

But as most smartphone owners know, phone repair companies and services are sometimes a dime a dozen, especially in a major city such as Philadelphia. Of course, Jesse DiLaura is fully in tune with this, which helps him to tailor his business to be the unique brand that it is. "Repair U is a college experience and culture of students doing really cool stuff and one of those things we do is fix phones."

What's next for them

For DiLaura, though, Repair U means more than just being a phone repair truck. It has a vision akin to the passionate visions of the students in the colleges around it; artistic, exploratory, innovative.

"We are having an artist of the month just to come paint our truck and right now, we are trying to figure out our entrepeneur spotlight on other students who are doing cool shit. All of our employees are hired not just because they know how to fix phones but because they have a dream that they want to accomplish and Repair U is a diving board to propel them to do what they want." As a result, Jesse of course does not discriminate by major. Instead, he takes advantage of the diversity within the university, "you would think that we have all science, nerdy dudes but what Repair U is actually made of is are some Computer Science majors, some STHM, some Business, some Engineering, some Philosophy because they just wanted to use this to propel them as a resume builder and develop a lot of art skills. We are trying to become a culture of expressing those ideas."

Get your halal! Get your tacos! Get your damn phone fixed!

With a vision so compelling and relative to the college student experience, students would be remiss to not check out the little truck on the corner of 13th and Norris.

And maybe one day, at least in Jesse's hopes, Repair U will be at every college campus that he can reach. "It's simply a really, really affordable way to get your phone fixed as well as experience college life in a cool and innovative way in a food truck."