The owners of The DogHouse DeKalb are preparing to purchase their food truck after getting more than $20,000 pledged through their Kickstarter campaign.

The food truck, which would be NIU’s first and which would serve cheese sandwiches, had 36 days to raise funds through its Kickstarter. The founders behind Hungry Huskies Inc., a start-up group comprised of three alumni, are planning to purchase the truck and its supplies with that money.

The company offered those who pledged incentives that ranged from personalized thank-you letters to menu items named after backers who pledged $1,000.

“The next step it to pay the people back,” said co-founder Jordan Delegal. “We’re developing a plan for tracking the items that need to go out, fulfilling the promises we made to our backers, picking out a truck and the items that need to go inside of it and other operational things.”

A week before the fundraising deadline, $10,000 — or half of the company’s $20,000 goal — was pledged by an undisclosed backer. Co-founder Keith Otis said the company received funds from alumni who invested outside of Kickstarter.

“After two weeks we were at about $6,000,” Otis said. “But after that $10,000 donation, things really started to take off.”

Co-founder Elliot Echols said if the Kickstarter failed, funding the food truck would have taken longer; however, giving up was not an option.

Delegal said the grand opening may revolve around a school event in the spring, but the date is not set.

“There are two athletes that are co-founders in the company, so there’s a little hint,” Delegal said. “It’s probably going to be a date that a lot of people will be on campus.”