Heather Roth's Cotton Candy Cart Spins Gourmet Flavors While You Watch

When Heather Roth’s daughter, Margaret, asked to have cotton candy at her sixth birthday party instead of cake, she knew she had to make it happen. 

“I had to figure out how the hell I was going to make cotton candy,” she says. “That’s basically how Rosie Cheeks and the whole concept of the cart started — by being an experience for her and her friends.”

Roth’s brand-new business, Rosie Cheeks Cotton Candy, offers gourmet cotton candy, spun live for party guests or events across the St. Louis area from a (very cute) cart. Roth offers unique flavors such as Aztec chocolate, chile mango, lemonade or peach. You can even add glitter.

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COURTESY HEATHER ROTH FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY

She says she was inspired by her work as a wedding photographer. “I see how much people love experiences, whether it's somebody making margaritas right there on the spot, or seeing how excited people get with tableside guacamole. You know what I mean? Like, it's really fun to just add something like this to sparkle at an event.”

We recently caught up with the cotton candy entrepreneur to learn more about her unusual flavor offerings — and whether there’s such a thing as too much cotton candy. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

What's your earliest memory involving cotton candy?

It was definitely during circuses I grew up with like Barnum & Bailey. I don't know how much they do it anymore, but that's where I grew up and had cotton candy. It was always the prepackaged things that were pink and blue.

How much trial and error went into fine-tuning your flavors?

It’s been a whole year, and I'm still learning. It takes me a couple spins to kind of get going. It's kind of like when you make a pancake and you flip it and it's not the first one you want to eat. So it's the same with cotton candy. I'll start spinning and have to toss that one but my girls are like, “No, we’ll still eat it.” But yeah, it's fun.

Do you still eat it for fun today?

Um, yes. I tried chile mango yesterday. I've got some ideas for the future I want to do. I just got to take baby steps on everything. But I do want to prepackage some things and so I've been testing out the length of time it stays fresh. I ended up eating at least five cones of chile mango. It’s really not for kids, my girls did not like it, but it's definitely for adults. It was a good one.