What do you get when you combine butter, flour, sugar, and five tons of steel? Why, The Treats Truck, of course! The idea was so simple that it came to owner/baker/driver Kim Ima fully formed: outfit a truck to sell comfort desserts, then drive it to different neighborhoods, spreading treats (and joy) around the city. The menu wouldn’t be too fancy, just little tastes of childhood—fudgy brownies, whimsical sugar cookies, and tricked-out Rice Krispies Treats—simple homemade desserts just like Mom’s (maybe even better than Mom’s …). “I’ve always wanted to try my hand at being an entrepreneur, and if ever there was something I could get behind, this is the thing I really want to do. I just really wanted to see it happen.”
The petite proprietress didn’t own a car and had never driven a truck, but that wasn’t going to stop her. And neither would a few baking blunders. Six months before The Treats Truck hit the road, Kim holed up in a commercial kitchen, perfecting her recipes. After some trial-and-error scaling disasters—“I was like a grown-up Girl Scout in the kitchen”—Kim transformed from a small-scale baking enthusiast to a full-fledged professional baker.
Ice cream carts—and later trucks—have been a mainstay for sugar-rush seekers on the go since the nineteenth century, but The Treats Truck was the start of an entirely new phenomenon: the gourmet dessert truck. It was the beginning of New York’s mobile foodaissance when “Sugar,” Kim’s retro-chic, silver, red, white, and blue truck, hit the streets in June of 2007. It was new. It was novel. And most of all, it was fun.
Whether you’re treating yourself or others, Kim makes the experience delightful. There’s always a tray out to entice passersby with samples like intensely cinnamon-laced Mexican Chocolate Brownies and buttery Caramel Crème “Truckers,” one of Kim’s signature sandwich cookies. These bitesize nibbles have been known to convert more than just a few sales since one taste is never enough. If you have a particular cookie in mind, don’t hesitate to let Kim know. “I love when people point to the one that they want,” she says with a laugh. Order a brownie or slice of cake, and she’ll ask you which type of piece you prefer—corner, center, or side.
“I have a lot of room in my heart for all treats.”
When the truck hits the Upper West Side, Kim is always sure to pack plenty of sparkly sugar cook-ies—jolly-looking snowmen during the winter and brightly hued flowers in the spring and summer. Park Slopers are partial to the cran-almond Rice Krispies treats and oatmeal jammies, while Midtowners tend to favor the PB&J sandwich cookies. But plenty of treats have unexpected crossover appeal—think corporate suits ordering ice-cream-cone cupcakes.
While the truck seems like a natural fit in stroller-centric nabes, Midtown Manhattan has proven to be one of Kim’s favorite places to visit. Stop by the truck when it’s parked in the mid-40s and you’ll find gray-haired captains of industry queued with well-dressed publishing junior staffers. On sunny days the lunchtime line often stretches down the block. “Whatever you’re doing in Midtown whether you work in an office or you’re making deliveries, I feel like people are looking for something that they can enjoy or that’s a break from what they’re doing.”
Most of all Kim cherishes the interactions with her customers. “Daily there are these little moments that are special. For me, not just for them. It’s an opportunity for them to make my day better, for me to make their day better.” As “The Treats Truck lady,” Kim exudes a certain approachability that she occasionally dips into the confidante zone typically reserved for priests and bartenders. “I had a woman tell me, I’m going to get a cupcake—I’m cancer free. That same afternoon a young couple came by and said, We were just thinking we needed something sweet, so I started helping them out, and the woman says, We just found out we’re having a baby.Then she turns to her husband and says, Does everything look different to you? And he says, Yeah, everything does look different.” It’s moments like these that make all the work worthwhile. “I so fell in love with the idea for this business that I love it. And it’s so hard that you’ve got to love it.”
The food truck scene has changed drastically from when The Treats Truck first launched. “In the past there was this informal code of honor. You knew the landscape of where people were and who people were, so you could respect that, but now, it’s very hard to do that.” Citywide crackdowns on mobile vendors have made it more difficult to do business. “Being able to have good spots and reliable spots are the biggest challenge,” but Kim keeps on trucking. In 2011 she published a collection of her recipes called The Treats Truck Baking Book, and 2012 brought about the long-anticipated opening of The Treats Truck Stop, a brick-and-mortar extension of the truck, in picturesque Carroll Gardens, where visitors can check out the treats’ production through a giant window or sit a spell to enjoy a frost-your-own cookie plate. With all of the expansions and new ventures, Kim still treasures her time on Sugar interacting with the customers. “I’ve always loved the regulars. It just becomes this lovely little moment. You don’t know each other’s names, but you have these little exchanges. Whether you have a food truck or you’re driving a bus, we all have the opportunity to make the city better.”
Adapted from Kim Ima’s recipe
Icebox cakes are a quick and easy dessert that are fun to customize. They can be as basic as homemade whipped cream with vanilla or chocolate wafer cookies, or you can doll them up, like this coffee version. The Treats Truck owner Kim Ima always says, “It’s fun to name your creations.”
3 cups whipping cream
½ cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons instant espresso powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (9-ounce) package of chocolate wafer cookies
In a medium saucepan add the cream and sugar. Heat over medium, whisking until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is warm (do not let it boil), about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the cream into a large bowl. Whisk in instant espresso powder, cover, and refrigerate mixture until completely chilled, about 1 to 2 hours.
Chill the bowl of an electric stand mixer or a large mixing bowl and whisk beater attachments in the freezer for 10 minutes. Combine cream mixture and vanilla extract in the chilled mixing bowl. Using the chilled beaters, beat on high until soft peaks form.
On a large plate or platter, place a single cookie in the center and six cookies around it to form a hexagon-like shape. Cover with about a ½ cup cream spreading the cream in a circle leaving just a ¼ of an inch of cookie exposed around the edges, then repeat, staggering the cookies, to create a basket weave-like pattern, finishing with cream on top. The cake will have five layers of cookies and five layers of cream. Refrigerate covered with a cake dome at least 3 to 4 hours before serving or overnight.
TIP: If you don’t have a cake dome, make your own by inverting a glass bowl large enough to cover the entire cake and plate without marring the cream. Alternately you can store uncovered, but you may risk the cream taking on undesired flavors from odors in the refrigerator.
The Treats Truck owner Kim Ima is famous for her übermoist cakes and muffins, and this spiced zucchini cake is no exception. Make it your own by stirring in a cup of chopped nuts or semi-sweet chocolate chips just before baking. Frost with your favorite cream cheese or chocolate frosting.
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1¼ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
1½ cups confectioners’ sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 pound of zucchini, ends trimmed
Move oven rack to the center position and preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 13 x 9 inch pan and set aside.
Fit food processor with a fine grater disk–and grate zucchini. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, salt, confectioners’ sugar, and brown sugar. Stir in the oil until flour is moistened then add eggs, stirring until thick batter forms. Stir in zucchini until just combined.
Pour batter into pan and bake until top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean, about 30 to 40 minutes.
Cool completely before serving.
