The chances of you stumbling across a street food van during an outing in the north-east are increasingly high, whether it be in your local town, at a park or by the seaside.
Some of the most common foods you can get your hands on include burgers, pizzas and seafood. For those with a sweet tooth, ice cream is an obvious contender, too.
But have you ever come across a cheesecake van in your lifetime?
Well, thanks to husband and wife Tomasz and Monika Zupranski, now you can.
Monika, 35, has run baking firm Little Molly’s Cheesecake since June 2019 producing no-bake cheesecakes in a variety of tempting flavours.
With business booming, Monika thought it was the right time for expansion and set out to invest in a vehicle that would soon become the Little Molly’s Cheesecake van.
Cheesecake van
Monika and Tomasz, 36, purchased the van in February and it took three months to refurbish.
It has been operational for just over three weeks.
Discussing why they chose to open a van over a premises, Monika says there were a number of factors that were considered.
“We wanted to make sure that we could provide our products to a large number of people,” she added.
“When you have a shop, you need to wait for your customers to visit your shop. But with a van, you can meet your customers in many places.
“Tomasz and I love to travel, so that was definitely a reason why we chose a van over a premises.
“The van is 5.9 meters long. If you would like to picture it, imagine a Sainsbury’s delivery van – it’s exactly the same.”
The couple has already visited a line-up of events in the van, including Newburgh Gala, Ellon Gala, Banchory Farmers’ Market and Thainstone Market.
What can I buy?
At the van, as well as online, customers can get their hands on a vast range of different cheesecake flavours.
Some examples include:
- Banoffee
- Biscoff
- Blueberry
- Chocolate orange
- Raspberry ripple
- Salted caramel
- Strawberry and white chocolate
Not only that, but the business owner also produces bronuts – a combination of a brownie and a doughnut – cakesicles – a fun twist on a traditional cake pop – chocolate-covered strawberries, brownies, tiramisu and meringue cake.
Monika, who is originally from Warsaw, had no professional baking experience before setting up Little Molly’s Cheesecake.
However, over time and with a great deal of determination, she has continued to develop recipes that are admired by the masses.
“Food is my passion,” she said. “I had to spend many hours testing and developing my own recipes.
“Now, people love our idea and product. We have had a lot of positive feedback from new customers.
“And we have even started receiving lots of requests to serve big events and parties.”
Nationwide sales
Through the van, Monika is looking forward to “expanding to new markets and serving more customers”.
“It’s great because we can now get to know our customers better. We can talk with them and find out what they think about our products.”
Monika hopes to dispatch Little Molly’s Cheesecake products nationwide in the near future.
She currently only offers home delivery in Aberdeen, Blackburn, Dyce, Balmedie, Blackdog, Kingswells, Ellon, Foveran, Newburgh, Milltimber, Bieldside, Cults and Peterculter.
“It’s great to make cakes for a large number of customers and meet all these people through the cheesecake van.
“My heart is so happy now, but I know there is still a lot of work to do and I’m glad this is my life now.”
Conversation