Chesterfield's Traveling Cupcake Vendor Frightens Suburbia

A war over cupcake turf seems to be brewing as the popular Chesterfield vending truck travels from town to town, selling its custom sweets.

But some suburban towns are banning street vendors like Sarah's, saying they don't know how to cope.

The city of Eureka is the latest to tell the food truck they can no longer operate within city limits.

“We recently observed a truck parked in town and informed the company that the city does not have a way of handling peddler activity,” said Eureka City Administrator Craig Sabo, who added that the city did not have the means to consider the food truck for a permit.

Eureka has an ordinance on the books barring “peddlers,” and the only exceptions allow for farmers markets and charities. Sabo said the city informed the bakery about the ban on peddling weeks ago.

Sabo said Eureka does not receive tax revenue from food truck sales, but Jeff Pupillo, co-owner of the Chesterfield-based bakery and member of the St. Louis Food Truck Association, said that is just not the case.

“We pay sales tax,” Pupillo said. “They don’t know what they are talking about. If they actually check the records for the last year, they would have to pick a different argument.”

The cake shop's tax report for August lists Eureka, an indication that they've previously paid taxes to the city, although the shop paid no taxes to the city that month.

The same report shows Sarah's paid taxes in Chesterfield for August.

Pupillo announced the Eureka ban on Facebook, saying any pre-orders from Eureka residents were cancelled.

“The City must not need the tax revenue,” he wrote—likely with a touch of sarcasm.

But Eureka is not alone. Clayton, Webster Groves and St. Charles all ban traveling vendors, or try to make permitting difficult for food trucks, Pupillo said.

“There are pockets, cities that don’t see the value of the food truck, so we keep battling them,” Pupillo said.

But on Facebook, Sarah's Eureka fans summed up their feelings in one word: Boo.

“Boo!” Kandi Kerger Geregory, of Eureka, commented under Pupillo’s post. “I missed you at Clarkson Eye Care today. This makes me sooooooooo sad!”

Eureka resident Jessica Wallach Nitsch said she called Eureka City Hall and suggested the cake shop file an application to have the rules changed to allow food trucks.

Sarah’s Cake Shop is one of the first St. Louis eateries to have a food truck, and Pupillo said negotiating with cities is part of trying to “break ground so all the other food trucks can come in.”

UPDATE: Late Wednesday, Eureka city official Sabo told Patch he spoke by phone to Pupillo earlier that day, and had explained the process for requesting special use permits.

"I explained to (him) that (he) could propose an amendment to the code to provide for their type of business activity, but I have no idea what the board would say.

"My guess is that any suggested amendments would have to be extremely narrowly focused," Sabo said.

Editor's Note: This story was updated on Nov. 11 to include information on Eureka's ordinance barring peddlers.

We've all seen actors buy a hot dog or pretzel from street vendors in the movies. Does it look so bad? You decide, in comments below.