UCF snags a Yum-my treat

Sporting yellow and white stripes and playing a Puppini Sisters album through an iPod dock, the Yum Yum Truck, originally a van owned by a state prison, transports cupcakes instead of convicts with a classic, ‘50s vibe.

Offering vibrant cupcake flavors such as peanut butter, s'mores and orange cream dream, the Yum Yum Truck is in for a big rush, much to the excitement of Joey Conicella, a UCF alumnus and one of the co-founders of the cupcake truck.

After being in business for about six months, the Yum Yum Truck has agreed on a contract with Aramark, one of the largest food service companies in the world, to sell cupcakes on the UCF campus.

"They took a risk with us, but it's great; everyone is very excited," said Conicella, who runs the truck with co-founder and baker, Alex Marin. "They're really wanting us to succeed and are embracing the fact that we're young entrepreneurs and associated with UCF."

Conicella expects this venture to be a fun part their business, not necessarily to make a bunch of money, as well as help with exposure. They also are expecting to work with some of the student groups, in addition to already working with the alumni center.

Wednesday, the truck made its first stop on campus as a contracted food truck, vending tasty treats to students near the Nicholson School of Communication and between Millican Hall and the Education Building.

"I think it's an amazing truck," said Michelle Moss, a UCF alumna who has been a customer of the Yum Yum Truck since May. "They change their flavors all the time, so that's good that they keep up with the seasons."

Ricky Ly, a UCF alumnus and writer of the award winning Orlando food blog "Tasty Chomps," feels that the cupcake truck will be embraced on the UCF campus.

"I'm sure it's very welcomed on campus...it's not the cheapest, but it's still a pretty good deal," Ly said. "Cupcakes will save the day between classes. Hopefully they can walk it off."

Ly said that since food trucks move around town and are hard to pin down, they have to use social networking to let people know their location, which is why Conicella said he updates their Facebook four or five times per day. This, he said, goes hand in hand with college students today.

Moss, who graduated from UCF in 2002 with a degree in medical lab sciences, also has high hopes for the cupcake caravan doing good business on campus.

"I think it would be amazing; I think that they'll do very well," Moss said. "Everybody loves cupcakes, especially students who need a nice sugar snack."

Having been a long time follower of the Orlando Food Truck Bazaars, Moss also had a lot to say about the growing popularity of food trucks in general.

"I think that the popularity of food trucks is growing due to the fact that they had that food truck race show on the food network last season; I think it kinda got the interest really going," Moss said. "These are specific types of food or desserts or just anything you could imagine basically. They have everything from chicken and waffles to gator tail; it's something for everybody's palate."

Having been on campus only a couple times, including once on the last UCF Market Day, Conicella and Marin look forward to bringing their business to UCF.

"I'm hoping that UCF embraces this just like the rest of Orlando has and I really think they will," Conicella said. "A lot of our customers are already students, but now we're bringing it to them instead of them trying to find us."

If you missed the Yum Yum Truck Wednesday, don't despair. The truck plans on selling cupcakes at UCF at least once a week, every week. To keep tabs on this treat truck, visit their Facebook at www.facebook.com/theyumyumtruck.