Isabelle Frost
KaeB’s Italian Ice truck is eyeing to occupy space on the University of Mississippi campus.
Oxford native and owner of KaeB’s Lakisha Bell started her food truck journey after working in the Pi Beta Phi sorority house for five years. During summer breaks, campus dining workers were jobless and aimed to find ways to recoup their lost income. Bell began her first business, the original KaeB’s, after selling home-cooked food out of her house.
Eventually, she took her business a step further and bought a food truck.
“My mom suggested I start doing plates out of my house. That’s how I got started with food. After that, I moved onto the food truck,” Bell said.
After finding success with her food truck, Bell decided to venture into dessert. Thus, KaeB’s Italian Ice was born.
“I was headed to Memphis to the warehouse where I get my product for my food truck, and as I was walking around, I stumbled upon the ice machine. I took it as a sign to start doing Italian ice,” Bell said.
KaeB’s Italian Ice offers a variety of different flavors, ranging from tropical rainbow to strawberry lemonade. Patrons can customize their Italian ice by adding candy or cream.
“Italian ice is more of a gelato or a sherbert. It’s not your typical ice. It is way smoother and is extremely sweet. It doesn’t melt as fast. So, it is something different that everybody isn’t used to,” Bell said.
Bell generally takes her truck to daycares and events like horse shows. Looking to expand, Bell has joined a waitlist for a spot on UM’s campus.
KaeB’s currently sits outside of the Rebels for Christ Campus Ministry, where she sold her sweet treats at the group’s yard sale.
“It worked out well, because I was just telling my mom how hard it is to find somewhere to set up and (then) boom! Mrs. Julie Davis, who’s over the Christian Student Center, reached out to me,” Bell said.
In the future, Bell hopes to set up shop in a traditional storefront to provide more flexibility for customers in the winter months.
“I feel like a brick-and-mortar would be a year-round thing. I mean, we still eat ice cream when it’s cold outside, so who wouldn’t want something sweet and delicious to eat here and there?” Bell said. “With a food truck, when it gets colder outside, who wants to sit outside in the cold to get something cold anyway?”
Although securing a storefront and a spot on campus are Bell’s main goals for KaeB’s, she thoroughly enjoys every event and location she visits to sell her Italian ice.
“Any type of event to me is really fun. Anywhere I can go out and (see) people’s reactions makes it worthwhile,” Bell said.
