The FSW Blog Network

One of the businesses that keep going back to again and again for great cakes, breakfast scones and cupcakes is Cake Crumbs Bakery in the Park Hill neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. They are one of the few businesses I actually follow on Facebook, actually, because they have this great mobile operation called The Denver Cupcake Truck. The Denver Cupcake Truck was an idea born of Denon and Sean Moore, owners of Cake Crumbs. The truck drives all over the Denver metro area, delivering cupcakes to people  all over town, all the while posting and tweeting its whereabouts over Facebook and Twitter. A pretty smart operation. It’s been up and running since April of 2010, but late last year it hit a speed bump with local zoning laws.  And so far this year, the conflict has kept the truck garaged indefinitely until it can sort out the situation.

On their blog, the Denver Cupcake Truck drivers offer a little information about their story. In the beginning, they were fully inspected by Denver Environmental Health and Safety, and licensed by Denver Excise and License, who said they were free to park and sell cupcakes anywhere in town, so long as the parking spot was legal, they were not within 200 feet of a competing business, and they did not impede pedestrian or street traffic.

The problems that have arisen are due to miscommunication, it seems, between the zoning officials and the bakery, but it is still unclear how the problem can be solved. I never would have thought that a mobile operation would even have zoning troubles to think about. Unfortunately, The Denver Cupcake Truck did. And the truck had to temporarily turn off its engine for just that reason. However,  The Moores are right now working to find answers and initiate change, so they can bring their mobile operation back to life. They put it well on their own blog: “The mobile food truck movement that has swept across America and into Denver needs to be mobile, not stationary!” (Source)

I wonder what thoughts you have about this situation? Anyone out there with zoning experience, or thoughts about mobile food sales or food trucks in general? Talk it up in the comments!