Phoenix is home to a wide array of food trucks; these are their stories. To read the last installment of the Phoenix Food Trucks series, click here.
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A new food truck is trying to satisfy everyone’s sweet tooth.
Sweet Jonez offers more than 100 different kinds of cupcakes, each named after a musician or song.
“I don’t think anyone has seen something like this before,” founder Jasmine Crowe said.
The variety includes “One Love,” “Hound Dog” and “Purple Rain,” Crowe said, as well as extreme cupcakes and cocktail cupcakes, which have a little liquor but are still sweet.
As patrons enjoy their food, the truck plays the songs the cupcakes are named after.
All the cupcakes are made from scratch, and some are gluten-free, Crowe said. She doesn’t always have them on the truck, but once the Sweet Jonez website is running within the next week, the menu will be available online.
The company began in January but didn’t have a truck until April. It joined the Phoenix Street Food Coalition a few weeks ago.
“Our first event ever was the gay-pride event. We had Lady Gaga and Cher cupcakes, and we were so popular,” Crowe said. “At the end of the day, the cops came and bought out everything we had left because they kept hearing about us.”
Although there are other dessert trucks, such as Torched Goodness, Julie Ireland thinks healthy competition is great.
Ireland, who runs Torched Goodness with her husband, doesn’t foresee many conflicts with the new food truck because her truck serves a different dessert — creme brulee.
“We think there is plenty of room,” Ireland said.
Tonya Saidi, the owner of Mama Toledo’s, also doesn’t see a problem with another dessert truck.
“I have a different product. We just don’t feel like we’re competition,” Saidi said. “Sometimes people get dessert at both places.”
Crowe, an avid baker, thought up the company on a trip to New York while reading an article about the success of food trucks. She knew there was no other food truck like it, she said.
She named Sweet Jonez after the phrase “to be jonesing for something.”
Crowe worked at an Italian restaurant during college and said she did everything but work the grill. That experience, along with her master of business administration degree and the baking experience of one of her co-workers, benefit Sweet Jonez.
Along with providing an outlet for her love of baking, Sweet Jonez is a great experience for Crowe because she likes to meet people.
“The people that come out and support the food trucks are just some of the coolest people,” she said.
Right now, the three-person, all-female staff bakes their cupcakes at a commercial kitchen because they don’t have their own storefront. However, Crowe hopes to have a permanent location eventually.
She foresees Sweet Jonez growing in the next year, gaining more employees and another truck.
Sweet Jonez has only been at a few food-truck events since joining the Phoenix Food Street Coalition, but it’s owners plan to bring the truck to more events in the future.
Contact the reporter at mlongdon@asu.edu
