After a year away, Fayetteville doughnut truck is back with a new recipe, new location
After a hiatus of more than a year, a popular Fayetteville doughnut truck is back in business.
Chillz Intergalactic closed unexpectedly last October when an investor backed out, causing the business to lose the trailer that it operated from.
Now, owner Muhammad Shamsideen said the truck is back to “transporting the tastebuds” of customers, whom he refers to as “Martians.”
Since reopening Nov. 25, the truck has served thousands of specialty miniature doughnuts, Shamsideen said.
“We’ve been selling out,” he said. “This has been something out of my wildest dreams — to sell smiles.”
The truck serves a paired-down menu with cinnamon sugar, strawberry and snow powder doughnuts as the staff of four gets trained, Shamsideen said. In the coming weeks, fan-favorite flavors like French toast, lemon and blueberry cream cheese and strawberry-cinnamon elf treat will be back, he said.
New to Chillz
The comeback brings several changes.
Chillz has a new spot at in the parking lot Barton’s Home Outlet on North McPherson Church Road, which once housed a flea market that Shamsideen frequented as a child. He said the doughnuts served there were the inspiration for his doughnut truck.
The base doughnut recipe is now vegan, Shamsideen said, but has the same quality and flavor as the original. The Fayetteville native and father of eight also operates a family farm outside the city, where he is working to grow his own ingredients. He said he soon plans to source all ingredients locally.
Now open in the early morning, business hours are 6 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Father-son duo started with Italian Ice, found their niche with specialty doughnuts
Shamsideen and his son Jabril Shamsideen, 17, started Chillz Italian Ice in the summer of 2019 in Cary, where the family lived. Muhammad Shamsideen said he encouraged his son to start a business because the then 13-year-old said he wanted to drive an Audi.
“I said, ‘Hey man, start this Italian ice business and you can buy whatever car you want,’” Shamsideen said.
The Italian ice cart was performing well enough for Shamsideen to shut down his home remodeling business to manage the cart full-time. There was just one problem — Italian ice doesn't sell in cold weather, Shamsideen said.
Knowing he needed a hot item for the chilly months, Shamsideen said Chillz Intergalactic Donuts was born and business in Cary took off.
Finding a home in Fayetteville
By 2021, Shamsideen said, so many customers were driving from Fayetteville to Cary to try the doughnuts that he decided to come to them. Soon enough, Fayetteville became his main customer base, he said.
Shamsideen said operating in Fayetteville full-time after the reopening was the obvious choice.
“This is our home team,” he said.
Food, dining and culture reporter Taylor Shook can be reached at tshook@gannett.com, on Twitter, or Facebook. Want weekly food news delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the Fayetteville Foodies newsletter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville's Chillz Intergalactic Donuts food truck is back
