The Sweet Bliss truck will cruise around town Tuesdays to Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 7 p.m. It will tweet its location hour by hour and post daily specials on Facebook.

.....

Pastry chef Stephanie Rosse always wanted to own a homemade ice cream shop. But, as the former chef for Circa 1922 and Osteria Cicchetti researched business models, she learned about the benefits of taking her new business on the road. This month, she takes off with Sweet Bliss, a baby blue and white dessert truck that will cruise around town selling homemade ice cream and pastries.

“I talked to a lot of the food truck owners and the consensus was the money is good and it is a fun lifestyle,” she said.

As a single mom, the flexible hours and low overhead appealed to her. Also having built-in mobile advertising and being able to go to customers made good business sense to her.

“The food truck craze across the nation is huge. It’s not here in Wilmington yet. But, I think it’s coming,” she said.

Since 2002, Cape Fear Custom RV has outfitted three food trucks including Sweet Bliss. The company is currently installing a deep fryer and fry hood into a new food truck will sell pulled pork and chicken sandwiches, said Dennis Harp, owner of Cape Fear Custom RV.

“Trying to keep up with the health code changes is the biggest challenge,” he said. For example, food trucks are required to have three sinks to wash utensils and a separate one for workers to wash their hands. The vehicle’s walls must be made of stainless steel or a surface that can be washed down and not be painted. And the flooring inside the vehicle must be made from a single piece of flooring, he said.

Between Cape Fear Custom RV and another company in Wilson, Rosse had a refrigerator, a quiet generator, electrical outlets, stainless steel racks and a concession window installed in her truck and will be ready to roll this month.

September’s menu includes a toasted marshmallow chocolate s’mores cake, mini coconut crusted key lime pie with white chocolate mousse and mini nutella, dulce de leche or bananas foster cheesecakes. She also serves homemade ice cream with no additives.

Some of her flavors include Twix, which is chocolate ice cream with homemade caramel and snicker doodle cookies, peanut butter cup, which Rosse makes from scratch and fresh peach and mango sorbets.