Sweet Wheels

Location: [Closed] Roaming

The Story:

One trend that really took the food cart world by storm was to use social media as a tool to build buzz and a loyal audience. One tactic is to announce your location via Twitter. In other cities where the carts can’t necessarily park in the same spot every day, it has become vital for the customer to keep apprised of the next location. Here in Portland, trucks like Koi Fusion and Van Schnitzels have used this method successfully. Now comes Sweet Wheels, a fully mobile van selling cupcakes.

Peter Lu launched Sweet Wheels in June with a tweet storm the first week he was open. I wish Twitter had a mapping tool so I could retrace his travels. One minute he was parked in SE and soon after that, downtown and later in the day, NE. With his smaller van, he can pretty much go anywhere at the drop of a hat. Portland has some great cupcake shops that have successfully survived the cupcake revolution of the last decade, but now, we have a cupcake only food truck. And they’re good.

We were down by PSU at SW 4th and Hall when I saw Sweet Wheels parked in the gas station. Since I knew he roamed, I jumped at the chance to get some treats. I’m not normally a sweets fan, especially after lunch, but needed to try them. His menu for the day included vanilla with chocolate, red velvet, coconut with white chocolate, chocolate with strawberry and a few others. I ordered an assortment so my lunch mates could try some. Secretly, after seeing them all, I wanted to ditch my lunch and just eat cupcakes. That first bite of the chocolate with strawberry was decadent. Sweet, creamy, moist, melt in your mouth chunk of love. These weren’t the cupcakes we made when I was a kid. Everyone else who tried one that day emphatically stated they were some of the best they’d had.

Peter and his Sweet Wheels is ironing out regular locations for the week so we don’t have to sit by Twitter waiting for an announcement. As of this week, they have been at NE 9th and Multnomah on Monday, SW 4th and College on Tuesday and Thursday and will be at SW 2nd and Oak on Friday. These are some great cupcakes. Drop on by and pick some up for you and your friends and let Peter know Food Carts Portland sent ya.

Sample Menu:

• All cupcakes are $2.50
• Flavors vary, and may include vanilla w/ chocolate, chocolate w/ strawberry, coconut w/ white chocolate, red velvet and more.

Hours: 11:30am at each location
Phone: 503 87 SWEET
Website: SweetWheelsPDX.com
Twitter: @SweetWheelsPDX Facebook: SweetWheelsPDX