THE STORY OF CHELSEA & CHERRY. Chelsea Strommen, pictured, has long yearned to serve from-scratch, accessible food. As of 2025, that aspiration was realized with Sweet Roll Food Truck – taking Strommen's baked goods on the road.

Chelsea Strommen got the bug for the food service biz during her schoolyard days – long before Sweet Roll Food Truck, her small business, hit the road last fall.

While most kids sprint from their classrooms to the outdoor climbable structures, swing sets and soccer fields during recess, Strommen was more interested in playing “pretend store” and paging through cookbooks, she said.

“My life purpose became clear to me, from the very moment that I picked up my first cookbook in the elementary library,” Strommen said. “There are so many stories I could tell of the way that food and the people surrounding it, have changed my life.

“Food means a lot when you don’t have it. I wanted people to have access to good food. All the time. No matter what,” she continued.

Strommen has worked on nearly every side of the food service industry: waitress, hostess, shift lead, bartender, bar manager, kitchen manager and general manager – “and finally back to waitress; if you know, you know,” she said – over 10-plus years.

But after a decade, she felt stunted. If Strommen truly wanted to see her dream of owning and operating a restaurant come to fruition, she knew it would take more than experience and passion (things she already had in spades).

Logistically, the food service industry can be tough. Before equipment, sourcing food and finding a physical space to serve out of, gaining required licensing can also take significant time and money. These start-up costs alone stack up fast and Strommen knew she had to be realistic.

Her business plan began taking shape back in 2021; broad questions like “what does a profitable, prime margin look like for a bakery?” and “what does breaking even look like?” led to dozens more questions.

Eventually – armed with a 31-page business plan – Strommen was on the lookout for a secondhand, working food truck to take her bakery biz on the road.

Then, she saw it. A manual 1981 Grumman Olson, 8.2-liter diesel. “She” was beautiful right off the bat, Strommen said. Inspired by music from the 1960s and '80s, Strommen lovingly named the Sweet Roll machine “Cherry.”

Acquiring the truck was a heck of a ride in itself, as Strommen ventured on a 450-mile drive to Nebraska – after a double shift serving. Then, after realizing what an old, $1,500 food truck actually looked and drove like, necessary renovations needed were needed too.

Strommen, her dad and husband spent Summer 2025 rewiring the food truck’s gizmos and gadgets (i.e. brake lights, headlights, clutch and transmission, etc.) and scrubbing 40 years’ worth of dirt from the exterior metal surface.

That’s the in-a-nutshell on the two gals behind Sweet Roll Food Truck – Chelsea and Cherry – but I know what you foodies are really here for: The deets on Sweet Roll’s menu.

Based on Wisconsin’s cottage baking laws and, most important to Chelsea, accessible ingredients to help keep prices low, Sweet Roll’s menu features whole loaves of bread. Wheat, white, sourdough and jalapeño cheddar; baguettes, croissants (regular and strawberry), strudels and scones; muffins, brownies, cookies and sweet rolls.

“I am proud that the food you buy here has a very manual process. The fillings are real berries I’ve boiled down; the croissants are laminated by hand,” Strommen shared. “I believe in the difference that comes from doing it yourself.”

Gluten-friendly treats are on their way too, Strommen said.

One of the Chippewa Valley’s newest sweets-on-wheels business eagerly awaits the next opportunity to feed the community fresh, homemade goods. Swing by May’s Floral Garden (3424 Jeffers Rd, Eau Claire) on most Thursdays and Sundays, Hope Gospel Mission (2650 Mercantile Dr., Eau Claire) on Saturdays and The Brewing Projekt (1807 N Oxford Ave., Eau Claire) on every other Tuesday and Friday, to get a taste.

Learn more about Sweet Roll Food Truck online at www.sweetrollec.com and keep up with the food truck on social media. Reach out with inquiries at sweetrollec@gmail.com.