UCF alumni start a cupcake to-go business

A new business provides students with something new to eat between classes, and it is served from a truck: Cupcakes.

 Joey Conicella and Alex Marin are the owners of The Yum Yum Cupcake truck, a new food truck that is sweeping through the area. The idea of a cupcake truck is springing up around big cities such as Miami and New York City, but no one has done anything like it in Orlando, Conicella said.

"We decided to start the business because we were miserable in our corporate jobs," said Conicella, 27-year-old UCF alumnus and part owner of The Yum Yum Cupcake Truck said. "We've always baked as a passion, one thing led to another and the cupcake truck was the next best option."

The cupcake truck has been at the Student Union the past two Wednesdays.  

 "We plan on coming to UCF at least once a week and for game days and concerts," Conicella said. "If the students like us, then we'll be on campus more. I could sit on campus all day everyday. It makes me feel young."

Their truck, with a retro yet simple flare, provides customers with cupcakes baked from scratch. Marin, 28, the head baker, uses recipes that were handed down to him from his father and grandmother, who had been baking for years.

"We literally do it like your grandmother would do it with the 1950s recipes," Marin said. "We try to keep all the ingredients true to form."

The No. 1 thing that makes The Yum Yum Cupcake Truck's cupcakes different from others is that it's made with only fresh ingredients. The cupcakes are made with no frozen products or powdered substitutes, and only real dairy products, he said.

"Some of these other cupcake products are all about using bright colors and we try to cut all of that out and make it about the flavor and the quality of the ingredient," Marin said.

The two began selling cupcakes back in November but brought the truck into the equation in March, which makes getting their name out and attracting customers more convenient.

One of the reasons Conicella chose to sell cupcakes is because of the attraction it has with people. It is small and you can eat it while walking without looking like a pig, he said.

"And plus I think it reminds people of being a kid," Conicella said. "I think that brings a fun and almost nostalgic angle to it."

Cupcakes shops have recently opened in the UCF area with locations such as Sweet! in Waterford Lakes and now The Yum Yum Cupcake Truck popping up.

"I think it is great that something like The Yum Yum Cupcake Truck is in our area and especially on campus," John Johnson, a freshman computer engineering major, said. "It is something that stands out, is different, and keeps people constantly wanting to go back."

Conicella and Marin hope to have a regular spot in front of the Student Union in the future.

"Everything is made with a lot of love," Conicella said. "That's for sure."