Name of business: Conchitas Truck
Type of business: Coffee and dessert mobile catering
Location: www.conchitastruck.com
Contact information: @conchitas.truck on Instagram
Specialty: Concha ice cream sandwiches
History of business:
Two childhood friends are hoping to cure Turlock’s sweet tooth with their new food truck, which puts a unique twist on a timeless Mexican classic.
Anne DiGrazia and Martha Jauregui both grew up on Turlock’s Westside, where their 25-year friendship first began. As children, they spent plenty of time looking forward to visits from the pan dulce truck and often indulged in the Mexican treat also known as sweet bread, or concha.
A quarter of a century later, the pair has embarked on yet another adventure together with the creation of their own pan dulce business, Conchitas Truck.
“I think both of us have always had an affinity for it. It’s just nostalgic for us,” DiGrazia said. “We enjoy it with coffee in the morning and it reminds us of our childhood.”
Conchitas Truck takes the conchas many on the Westside and throughout Turlock know and love, putting a cold, sweet scoop of ice cream in the middle to create a delectable sandwich. The truck also offers churro ice cream sandwiches and a variety of Mexican-themed drinks like café de olla and Mazapan-blended coffee beverages — a menu inspired by the Westside, for the Westside.
The idea to start their own business came up in 2018 during Christmas time, Jauregui said, when DiGrazia was visiting from Los Angeles. DiGrazia had seen the concha ice cream sandwiches in SoCal and knew they’d be a hit in the Central Valley, and Jauregui had always wanted to open an ice cream shop of her own.
“It was a beautiful marriage of these two ideas we wanted to pursue,” Jauregui said.
“We wanted to bring that to the Central Valley because there’s no one who does it here yet,” DiGrazia said. “Our goal is to infuse Mexican flavors with a modern, Central California twist.”
In addition to a permanent, to-be-announced location, Conchitas Truck will also cater events, parties, markets and more. DiGrazia and Jauregui hope to eventually start a scholarship fund for students on the Westside through their new business, and have already employed the skills of Westside residents to help make their dream business become a reality.
While their grand opening will take place sometime this month, the support is already flowing in. Conchitas Truck has garnered hundreds of followers across both Facebook and Instagram thanks in part to the pair’s background in communications and marketing, which has helped DiGrazia and Jauregui come up with clever catch phrases like “Don’t be self conchas” as well as a cohesive, eye-catching color scheme.
“Our goal is to empower people from our community, the community we grew up in,” DiGrazia said. “We’ve poured so much time into this over the last year and a half. There was something good that came out of COVID, and that was Conchitas Truck for us.”
