HOLYOKE – Nicole Ortiz has fulfilled here dream.

The graduate of the Holyoke Community College and MGM Culinary Arts program at the Cubit building has officially opened her food truck called “Crave.”

Ortiz told Reminder Publishing she had been planning to open the truck since last November and explained the pandemic put “a little halt on things.”

Ortiz attended the EforAll entrepreneur program in Holyoke to help her enter the business world.

“I always wanted to start my own business, but I didn’t know what to do,” she said.

Her interest in cooking came about after she moved into her own place and started cooking for herself, she said.

When she saw the facility at the Cubit Building, she said “I definitely knew what I wanted to do.”

The food truck features a variety of dishes, with a wide selection of tacos. “We use really fresh ingredients,” she noted, “and as many local ingredients we can.”

She likes to put her own spin on classic recipes. One example is her blueberry and lavender lemonade.

She chose a food truck because of the lower overhead than a permanent location.

She explained her plan is to move the truck around the city but will spend a lot of her time at the Cubit building on race Street. Recently she spent an afternoon outside of the entrance of the Boston Bud cannabis dispensary on Sargeant Street.

To check out her menu and to see where the truck is located, go to the Crave page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cravefoodtruck.