A cupcake truck is born

Well, that was quick. Write a few articles, start a few websites, and all of the sudden Chicago has a new food truck. Flirty Cupcakes, a truck peddling (wait for it) cupcakes, will soft launch this weekend.

Of course, the process of getting Flirty Cupcakes up and running wasnt quick at all. Married couple Tiffany Kurtz and Chris Sewall have been working on the project since December, when Kurtz noticed an old, beat-up ice cream truck and realized itd be a hitif only it was cleaned up and filled with pastries.

At the time, Kurtz wasnt aware that other cities had cupcake trucks. And she certainly wasnt aware how many rules and regulations the city was about to make her address. But she and Sewall persevered. When the city told them they had to to add running water to the van they were modifying, they complied. Ditto when the city asked them to install a bulkhead (which separates the front of the van from the back, like in a taxi). And when the city told them they had to pre-package each cupcake? That gave Kurtz a little pauseA., its costly, she says. B., as people walk up, some people just want a cupcake, and not a boxbut they went with it. Kurtz, a seasoned marketer (she has launched brands for companies such as Unilever), calls the packaging gift boxes. Because theyre really cute, she says.

With a name like Flirty Cupcakes, its no surprise that this truck has a cute factor, or that its angling more towards women (who Kurtz explains are the primary buyers of cupcakes). The cupcakes, made by pastry chef Jason Cox every morning at Kitchen Chicago, come with built-in nicknames. Theres a McDreamy (its a chocolate cupcake with a chocolate-cream cheese filling), CBFF (chocolate best friend foreverchocolate with Nutella ganache) and a No Plain Jane (vanilla with vanilla buttercream). (There will also be weekly specials, the first one being a special Mothers Day cupcake: Vanilla cake filled with cream and topped with white chocolate and blackberry frosting.)

Where can you get them? Youll have to follow Flirty on Twitter (@flirtycupcakes) to find out. But if all goes as planned, they shouldnt be hard to miss. We have expectations to grow, Kurtz says. Our vision is to launch this one and then get another truck for this city, and then expand to other cities.

And expanding wont be half as convoluted as launching the first one. It will be so much easier, Kurtz says. I cant wait.