Sisters open Fayetteville's first cupcake vending machine
A cupcake vending machine has landed in Fayetteville.
Run by local sisters Melinda Borom and Melissa Moore, the machine has sold hundreds of treats since it opened at the food court in Cross Creek Mall in late November.
On Wednesday afternoon, a steady stream of customers stopped to satisfy their sweet tooth.
Single cupcakes are $3 and variety packs of four are $12. The refrigerated cupcakes are stored in little cardboard boxes and are restocked every day, sometimes up to three times a day, the sisters said.
Depictions of Moore and Borom by local graphic artist Candace Schaffer are shown on the custom pink vending machine, which holds about 170 cupcakes.
Of the cupcake flavors baked in a health department-approved kitchen at Moore’s Hope Mills home, banana pudding has proven to be the best-seller. Biscoff, Oreo, red velvet, chocolate, s’mores and salted caramel are available, too.
About every six weeks, half of the flavors will rotate out to make way for seasonal tastes and customer suggestions, Moore said, though she was tight-lipped about what flavors customers can expect next.
Her sister was a little more forthcoming. Lemon is one of the most-requested flavors coming to the machine soon, Borom said.
The cupcake venture grew out of an event-planning business the 52-year-old sisters started last year, through which they often cater baked goods for weddings, baby showers and birthday parties.
The Fayetteville natives run the business on top of full-time management positions at Walmart, often baking late into the night after work.
For now, the cupcakes are only available at the mall vending machine or by special order, but the pair hope to expand to colleges in Fayetteville and Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh. They have been approached with offers to expand to malls throughout the Southeast, but have turned them down.
The sisters hope to move into a commercial kitchen and hire a baker in the next few months, but in the meantime, they’re grateful for the success they’ve seen at Cross Creek Mall.
“It's just homemade cupcakes made with love,” Moore said. “The cupcakes your grandma made. That’s all it is.”
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 first cupcake vending machine opens at Cross Creek Mall
