With Chicago slowly opening up to the food truck scene as Rahm Emanuel relaxes laws on mobile food trucks, many people in the food industry, amateur and professional alike, are jumping on the opportunity. Galit Greenfield, owner of Sweet Spot Macarons, is striving to bring a unique bite among the cupcakes and hot dogs by introducing the appealing French confectionary that is as marketable as it is delectable.
“What I love about it most is that it’s not a cupcake,” said Alice Diec, marketing manager for Sweet Spot Macarons. Diec explained that Greenfield’s time at the French Pastry School as an influence on her decision to make macarons.
Taking advantage of the truck trend that is sweeping the nation, Greenfield points to new market potential as a key factor in starting Sweet Spot Macarons, which launched this week. “I like the mobile idea,” she said. “I wanted to be more visible with the product. I found that this trend can really fit my needs.”
Greenfield made a career change into the food industry after moving to America from her hometown of Tel Aviv, Israel. “I used to bake a lot at home, but I never considered it as a profession,” she said. During her first years in America, Greenfield worked with art students in Chicago colleges. “I was influenced by my students in the arts,” she said. “I told myself I wanted to do something creative.” Indeed, Greenfield points to music, traveling and foreign films as interests.
Upon discovering the French Pastry School in Chicago, “it all clicked,” Greenfield said. “It was an opportunity for me to fulfill a dream. It’s perfect.” From there, Greenfield tried multiple outlets from farmer’s market catering to teaching classes to get started in the pastry industry. In June of 2009, Greenfield started Sweet Galit, a catering platform from which she also hosts workshops and runs a small business.
Looking to expand her horizon, Greenfield started developing Sweet Spot Macarons around late March. “I think food trucks are more approachable for people,” she said. “I think already there is a culture in many ways.”
While embracing this new culture, Greenfield also wants to introduce something new. “I feel like people here are used to whoopee pies or cupcakes,” she said. “I want to see if the public will also adopt and would try desserts that are different. I fell in love with macarons long ago. You can do so much in terms of flavors and creativity.”
Diec agrees. “[Greenfield] wanted to go in a fun new direction and we talked about different kinds of pastries and this kind of just made a lot of sense. Macarons are bigger elsewhere in the world, but not quite Chicago. In a way, [Greenfield] gets to be a trendsetter.”
Beyond a trendsetter, Diec explained Greenfield hopes to help make gourmet foods more accessible to the crowds. “Not everyone can go to a fancy restaurant or even has time to do that during their lunch hour,” Diec said. “The fact that you can just walk outside of your office and see a bunch of food trucks and choose from whatever you want, I think it’s really great.”
Weinberg senior Tiffany Hsu, president of Northwestern Oral Masticators (NOM), the campus group dedicated to food, agrees that the mobility of food trucks allows the trend to stay niche. “When [food trucks] move around it’s kind of a novelty item and so people are more willing to try it,” she said. Hsu believes this market will allow Greenfield’s specific product to be successful. “I know a lot of people really like macarons, so I guess there’s probably some sort of audience out there,” Hsu said. “It does seem a little narrow for me, but that’s what food trucks do. They take some small genre of food and then they specialize in it, and that’s what drives people in.”
As for the opposition from restaurant owners about the advent of the truck trend, Greenfield believes the two do not conflict. She explains that the two kinds of businesses each attract a different kind of customer, one who prefers to sit down for a slow lunch at restaurants and one who wants a quick bite to grab at food trucks. “This is a big city,” she said. “There’s room for everyone.”