TYLER, Texas — The East Texas State fair is in full swing as thousands of people pour in each day, but one new Longview-based food truck is really busing them in. CBS19 caught up with the truck's owner to get the story on this sweet, double-decker attraction.
Jennifer Phillips owns Red Bus Cupcakes, and she's happy to serve up a slice of "Merry Ole' England."
"We are Red bus cupcakes, this is our first year here and we are just so excited and the crowds have been fantastic," Phillips said.
Red Bus Cupcakes is special: it's a repurposed double-decker bus, made into one sweet ride. Originally from Bristol, England, it's a 1981 classic.
"So many people have come and eaten up on the top of the bus, and check out the view," Phillips said. "For people who have never seen a double Decker and many that have it’s just a neat nostalgic opportunity. I own Calavera Cakery in Longview and I only used to do wedding cakes and what’s kind of funny is I’ve always said I will never do cupcakes, I’ve never liked cupcakes."
Eventually, Phillips decided a food truck might be something she'd be interested in.
"I was looking for a motorhome to take my grandbabies on a road trip and this popped up on my newsfeed and it was in Boston," Phillips said. "Within a week, my husband flew to Boston and he ended up buying her and drove her for 1,750 miles, at 43 mph to Texas."
Phillips and her husband began to rebuild the bus into a food truck over quarantine. Phillips is thankful that before being an attorney, her husband was an auto-mechanic.
"We have some acreage by the bakery and we parked her out there and put out picnic tables and we opened it June 19 of last year and she’s just been really really popular," Phillips said. "Every weekend our business doubled, whenever we thought we had reached the top of it, it doubled again. So now I’m actually quitting the wedding cake business and we’re just doing this full-time because it’s so much fun."
Phillips uses the same flavors in her cupcakes that she does in her wedding cakes, but the German chocolate, lemon, and red velvet have been selling out at the fair.