RENEE WANTS TO KNOW
Becoming a Mom Boss Baker Mooresville resident opens dessert food truck by Renee Roberson Photo courtesy of Crystal DeNigro
L to R: Nicole and Crystal DeNigro
It’s no secret that we are obsessed with food trucks in the area — who wouldn’t be? They are mobile, fun, and always a joy to see when visiting a brewery, festival, street fair, or neighborhood gathering. They offer us the chance to curate the perfect meal while out and about. When I saw on social media that a new food truck called Mom Boss Baker was going to be making the rounds, I reached out to the owner to learn more about her inspiration to dive into the food truck business, her background, and vision. What I learned is that Crystal DeNigro is one busy mom boss baker. She lives in Mooresville, has two sons, ages 1 and 3, and that’s enough to keep anyone busy. But she’s also been running her own custom cake business, I Hardt Sugar, for the past ten years. “I’ve been baking since I was a kid with my mother,” DeNigro says. “That’s where I got my passion.” Originally from South Florida, she moved to the Charlotte area and attended The Art Institute of Charlotte to study her craft. A few years ago, she began envisioning opening a food truck. “There aren’t really any dessert food trucks around here, and I wanted to be different and try something out of the box,” she says. 88
LAKE NORMAN CURRENTS | MAY 2022
DeNigro spent about six to eight months exploring good trailer/ truck options that she could operate a business from, she says. She didn’t want a used one, and she also knew she didn’t need one with a full kitchen because she wasn’t planning on cooking in it. She found a good match in Douglas, Ga. and drove down to pick it up. DeNigro, along with her sister Nicole DeNigro, plans to serve dessert cake cones, dessert tacos, cupcakes, cannoli, and create-your-own-cake bowls out of the seafoam-green truck When she posted an announcement in the Lake Norman Eats Facebook group in March, she was overwhelmed with messages and is now already booked through July. She also credits her 15 years in the area and tapped into her network at the farmers’ markets, breweries, and vineyards. DeNigro will continue creating cakes through I Hardt Sugar but will schedule one food truck event per weekend while she gets used to balancing her responsibilities as a baker, boss, and mom. Keep an eye out for this new truck as you venture out for spring! Check Crystal out on Facebook at Crystal Mom-Boss Baker and Instagram at mom_boss-baker
