If you know a Temple student, there's a good chance you've heard about the coffee. Or, more specifically, the lack of good coffee on campus.

Cloud Coffee founders Matthew Craig and Kristen Mills were two of those students. They both studied painting at the Tyler School of Art (and graduated in 2012 with MFAs).

"That second semester, we were talking coffee breaks a lot together," recalls Mills. "We would always complain about [the coffee]. And then we started joking that it would be funny to do a coffee truck. It's kind of like food truck nation now; they're everywhere. It's huge on Temple's campus and it's growing in Philadelphia. Over the summer, we started to take it seriously. What if we could really do this?"

Being artists was an essential part of both the genesis and the execution of the project. They wanted to work for themselves and still have the freedom and energy to do their creative projects. Starting a business seemed like an ideal solution.

The duo started researching ways to get a truck, and when they finally found their dream vehicle (top-of-the-line espresso machine, water tanks, refrigeration) it was out in Washington State. Not only that, but it was called "Love a Latte," painted bright red and covered with hearts. The pair drove out to pick it up and the truck they used to haul it back east kept breaking down. 

"There was a lot of heartache in this process," says Mills with a smile. "A lot of it was the permits and paperwork. Philly is kind of tricky when it comes to the bureaucratic stuff. We were officially running on January 15 of this year, after a conversation that happened a year before."

To help fund the business, they ran a Kickstarter campaign. In the proposal, they explained the synthesis of art and truck: "Cloud Project is two-fold: it is a mobile coffee shop and it is also a conceptual piece. It is about the social role of the artist, as we, the artists in Cloud Project, are inviting visitors to interact with contemporary art in a sociable way."

"[The Kickstarter] helped people get involved and feel ownership over it," explains Mills. "A lot of Tyler grad students and faculty, family members, friends from the art community contributed." 

Though neither has ever run a business before, Mills and Craig consider themselves strong problem-solvers. They are also passionate about providing a great product -- Cloud sells deliberate, delicious Third-Wave brew.

"Matthew came from Portland, so coffee was a big part of his life," says Mills. "He worked as a barista for a bit. I bartended and waited tables for years before going back to school. So, the customer service end of it was definitely something I felt very comfortable with. Running the business is something we're still learning. He and I have a really good way of figuring things out."

So, if goal number one was bringing delicious coffee to Temple, and goal number two was making a living, then goal number three is creating an art practice out of the small trailer parked in front of Tyler. The Cloud duo recently sponsored an art prize -- they received over 100 submissions -- and plan on another competition to design custom stamps for their cups.

"The way that it's [an art] practice is mainly the way that we're engaging with other artists or the community," says Mills. "That's how I see my work as an artist anyway. My work is becoming more and more collaborative, and I see this as a collaboration."

That community has embraced them (it was a grateful Temple student who tipped me off to their existence). During the school year, they go through about 65 pounds of coffee a week. They brew beans from ReAnimator, a local roaster set to open their own café in Fishtown.

"Before we even picked up [the truck], Matthew put out a call to a bunch of local roasters," says Mills. "We spent a number of mornings trying different ways of making coffee, figuring out how we liked it. At the time, ReAnimator's lab was right down the street from where we lived. They invited us over for a cupping. We hung out with them for a couple hours and just nerded out on coffee. They're really supporting us as a startup. We chose them because they were by far the most intimate and the most personable. They're still kind of a startup too."

And for these Tyler grads, staying connected to their alma mater has been essential.

"They say food is the new art," muses Mills. "Tyler students are up all hours of the night, or up early. We knew it was a captive audience and a big audience, and positioning ourselves outside of where we went to school is a constant reminder that we're still here. It's great -- we've been invited into the gallery to do talks. Both Matthew and I are adjunct [teaching] here next semester."

Despite some complaints about red tape, Mills also credits Philadelphia's entrepreneurial environment for their early success.

"When I graduated, I had it in my head that I was going to stay in Philly for a year and try it out," explains the Boston native. "We couldn't have done this in any other city -- at least not as easily. In New York, there's a cap on food trucks. Boston would have been way too expensive. I think in some ways we jumped in at the right time."

LEE STABERT is managing editor of Flying Kite.