Wichita has a sweet new business on wheels
Cheri Kovacic knows cookies. She knows cake. She doesn’t know much about the Wichita food truck scene.
But Kovacic, who launched Cheri’s Bakery 18 years ago on Wichita’s west side, said she finally she decided that she couldn’t keep ignoring her employees urging her to open a mobile cookie truck.
“I’ve had young employees telling me that I should do it, but that wasn’t really in my wheel house,” she said. “I started listening to them and looking at it and decided I should be going with the flow of what people want.”
This week, Kovacic had a soft opening for that new mobile cookie truck, which she’s calling Cheri’s Sweet Ride.
She’s selling “sweets with a twist,” meaning she’ll offer more than the frosted sugar cookies her bakery is known for. Cheri’s Sweet Ride will stock things like yeast dessert waffles with various toppings, and double-stuffed cookie sandwiches with buttercream in the middle.
Kovacic also has plans for other sweet inventions in the future, but she’s not ready to discuss those yet. The truck is allowing her to tap into her creativity, she said.
“We can do different things on the truck,” she said. “I always have different things in my head that don’t apply to a retail store but apply here. So it’s kind of fun.”
In April, Kovacic bought the truck in Arkansas from someone who’d used it to sell gelato, she said. It’s perfect for carrying sweet treats around town.
She plans to park it at various spots in Wichita and hopes to frequent food truck rallies once those are back online in Wichita.
People can keep up with the truck’s route on the Facebook page for Cheri’s Sweet Ride.
On Friday, the truck will be parked from 5 to 8 p.m. at Monarch Landing housing development near East 21st St. North and North 159th St. East. And on Saturday, it will set up in front of the bakery at 2121 N. Tyler, which is in the same strip center as the new Pizza Ranch restaurant.
Cheri’s Sweet Ride menu
This story was originally published July 15, 2020 at 1:44 PM.
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