Last Saturday the Hello Kitty Café rolled through Memphis – and as a life long Sanrio lover it was my duty to attend and report back.
First off, let me pause and give shout-out to my husband for coming with me because I fully recognize this was a bit of a silly weekend activity – it’s 45 min from our house so not something that was super convenient to do. Like Fuller House, henna tattoo chokers and mule shoes I appreciate that the folks at Sanrio are taking advantage of my generation’s love of things from our middle school days. Back in my middle school days I remember carrying a Sanrio tin case as my purse with little Sanrio goodies around school – every girl in the 6th grade did the same; and even though it eventually lot its coolness I never really lost my love of Hello Kitty and all her friends with their adorable cuteness. So, when I saw this on Facebook I knew I had to check it out.
The truck was open until 10am until 8pm or all items were sold out. Nothing is made within the truck – it’s basically a mobile store for a handful of Hello Kitty themed baked goodies. According to the event page people were starting to line up at 9am and the wait early in the day was 1.5 hours. I had a sneaking suspicion that all the hardcore people would show up first thing and the crowds would die down by the afternoon – this hunch proved to be true and I only had one person in front of me when I arrived.
Available were three sweet treats, bow shaped water bottles, t-shirts, headbands and coffee mugs.
Available items on display
Inside the truck
Price List
Yes, those are the prices and yes I did pay them so let’s discuss what I bought and what was worth it.
My Hello Kitty haul
I purchased one of each sweet treat and three bottled waters – I gave the cookies and two water bottles to our nieces. I also wanted a souvenir item and although Shaun tried to pint out that the mug or t-shirt had more functionality I just had to go with the headband. The pink bag was free with a $25 food purchase and the button is free with a merchandise purchase.
Mini Cakes
These cakes were not bad but the most overpriced item available IMO – you can get a dozen petit fours at Fresh market for $7.99 vs these four for $15 and the Hello Kitty designs are made with fondant – which we all know looks way better than it tastes. As you cam see from my photo these goodies also held up the least. The cakes were good and moist – two had white icing inside and two had a jelly filling.
Macaroons
The macaroons on the other hand are in my opinion the best buy because $3 a piece is the typical price for a macaroon anyway and these are even more adorable than your typical macaroon. I’m not sure how far in advance these are made but they’re not as fresh as ones from a bakery but still not bad. Each macaroon is a different flavor.
Cookies
The painted cookies are a little higher priced ($12) than these cookies usually are but with the specialty nature it’s not unusual to pay a premium for this type of item. They’re really cute but pretty hard. I got these mostly because I thought it’s what kids would enjoy the most.
The water bottle are $3 each and I’m totally going to re-use my bottle so I don’t think it’s a bad price at all. For merchandise the mugs were $13, t-shirts $27 and headbands $30 but I figure the headband is no more worse than the mouse ears everyone buys for Disney but yes it was an unnecessary way to spend money. I got cute pics though, right?
This was a fun novelty, one time experience. If we make it out to California this summer I’d probably go to the one in Irvine just because it has a larger menu and seating so it’s more of a café experience but I would buy just one drink and sweat treat to be consumed there. This was really fun to visit and the staff was very nice so I recommend stopping by if the truck rolls through your town. You can keep up with Hello Kitty Café via instagram and Facebook.