ASUCI held its Winter Vendor Fair from Feb. 13 to Feb. 17. The five-day event saw numerous local businesses return to Ring Road, with vendors like Woo’s Crepes and the Hummus Man offering their goods to students for the second time this academic year. While some well-known vendors like Dolce Monachelli’s bundt cake bakery were absent, fresh faces like jewelry business Wimsi.co made their debut on Ring Road. Like the Fall Vendor Fair, hundreds of students gathered around tents that sold various items like unicorn flavored crepes, books, colorful, handmade pottery, jewelry, an assortment of charms and vanity license plates.
Fourth-year student Melina Noruz says she stopped by the fair for a second time to peruse jewelry vendor wares and pay a visit to the fan-favorite Hummus Man.
“I actually looked up Baba Foods because I was so enamored with the pita chips, and I found out it was [based in] San Diego, and I was very impressed that he comes all the way here,” Noruz said. “I just got four boxes of the lemon pepper pita chips, I shared them with my dad, and he’s also a big fan.”
Fourth-year Melina Noruz flaunts her lemon pepper pita chips. Photo by Simon Jeau / Staff
Indeed, Khaled Missaoui, also known as the Hummus Man, told the New University that he commutes from San Diego to Irvine for each day of the Vendor Fair.
“We have big kitchen there, everyday in the morning I pick up some fresh stuff and then I come here,” Missaoui said.
The Baba Foods stand was noticeably one of the busiest, receiving near-constant attention from students and passersby. For prospective customers, Missaoui recommends Garlic Heaven hummus, Kitchen Sink hummus, avocado hummus, tzatziki, kefir yogurt, and the Three Layer Appetizer.
Khaled Missaoui, otherwise known as Hummus Man, assists students with their orders. Photo by Simon Jeau / Staff
In addition to expressing an appreciation for vendors, students also found the proximity of the fair to be another hallmark of the event.
Fourth-year student Sofia Medina says that for her, getting around Irvine is difficult.
“I don’t have a car and I live on campus, so it’s really hard to get around Irvine because everything is so far apart,” Medina said. “So when there’s vendor fairs I go crazy, like I eat a lot of Mexican food because there’s like none nearby that is good and then yeah, just like little shops and stuff.”.
She also mentioned that to get good Mexican food, she’d usually have to drive to Santa Ana.
“Without a car, that’s an Uber ride and something like $20 just to get there. So it’s very accessible to have vendor fairs here.”
The vendor fair has helped third-year student Jessica Tan her in this regard as well.
“I don’t have a car, I struggle a lot. I usually Uber, everyday. I feel like mostly on campus, it’s Starbucks coffee, bakery stuff, but [at the vendor fair] you have [things] like hot dogs, so you can’t really get that [within walking distance] of campus.”
While food vendors were a popular attraction as usual, students were particularly interested in the jewelry that small businesses offered.
One particular jewelry vendor, Wimsi.co, had a constant flow of students taking a closer look at their diverse collection of pieces. Founded by UC San Diego alumni Nathan and Lanzhi Chung, the business offers a wide selection including butterfly earrings, gummy bear necklaces, sterling silver rings and rose gold necklaces.
“We try to aim for a much more whimsical design that comes in jewelry,” Nathan said. “Not something that’s minimalist like you find out there these days where it’s just very basic, very common. We try to go for something more fun.”
After leaving behind their corporate jobs to start Wimsi.co, the couple found success on Etsy, where one of their products — a butterfly necklace — went viral. Suddenly, the pair found themselves with thousands of orders to fulfill.
For three months, boxes filled their one-bedroom Irvine apartment, and the pair ended up having to enlist the help of their parents to meet demand.
“We didn’t have any employees. So we hired my parents for free,” Lanzhi said. “My parents [live] in San Diego. We have a one bedroom apartment, so they had to sleep on the floor for a whole week.”
While Wimsi.co remains primarily an online store, the couple hopes to open up an in-person store this year in the LA area. They plan to return to campus in the spring quarter for the next vendor fair.
“It’s been refreshing because the youthful energy of students here just makes it, I guess, really fun. Fun to be here, pretty much,” Nathan said.
Offering advice for students, Nathan also added, “you might know what you want to do, you might pursue it. But if there’s ever an inkling inside of you that you want to try something new… just go for it, especially while you’re still young.”
Lanzhi and Nathan Chung pose for a photo with their gummy bear earrings. Photo by Simon Jeau / Staff
Simon Jeau is a Campus News Staff Writer for the winter 2023 quarter. He can be reached at sjeau@uci.edu.