Cupcake Rent Strike In Park $ Consession War Over City Enforcement Inaction

EATEN ALIVE: Derek Hunt, co-owner of the Cake & Shake of Long Island City, Queens says business has plummeted since illegal vendors have been allowed to encroach on his territory outside the coveted spot by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Critics say Illegal vendors including rent-a-vet's have taken over the area because the City, including the Department Of Consumer Affairs have refused to enforce existing laws.

As a result the owners of the cupcake cart have refused to pay the $9,900 monthly payments due to the Parks Department. Hunt said he quickly lost 40 percent of his business, so he quit paying his franchise fees in August. Hunt said that when he won his contract for the space owned by the Parks Department, valued at $659,000 over five years, he was told only one veteran would be permitted to join him and a pretzel cart at the location. (Photo: Andrew Kelly)

Before it opened Cake & Shake co-owner, Gina Ojile didn't think it was going to be an issue. “I don’t think there will be animosity with the hot dog vendors, because we’re offering a different product,” she said. That was before the City misrepresented the situation by routinely allowing eight venders or more to work in the area.

The Parks Department's revenue division has been coming under increasing scrutiny. - Geoffrey Croft

Manhattan

A gourmet cupcake vendor is refusing to pay his rent to the city for a coveted spot outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art because he’s in a battle with “rent-a-vets” trying to steal away his business, according to the New York Post.

Derek Hunt’s Cake & Shake cupcake cart is one of two food vendors who paid the Parks Department for the right to sell snacks on Fifth Avenue in front of the museum.

But Hunt is furious that since he won the contract -- which calls for $9,900 monthly payments to the city -- a year ago, his customers have been winnowed away by competitors who show up with hot-dog carts and don’t pay the city a dime -- and the city, he says, has done nothing to stop them.

“If nothing’s done, I’ll be out of business by the end of October,” said a distraught Hunt.

The competitor carts claim a legal right to be there because they’re run by disabled veterans who have a special privilege to vend on public streets in the city under a decades-old law.

Hunt said that when he won his contract for the space owned by the Parks Department, valued at $659,000 over five years, he was told only one veteran would be permitted to join him and a pretzel cart at the location.

But in August, two or three more carts showed up -- claiming to be run by veterans, too, grabbing a share of the business without having to pay any rent to the city.

“We need a lot of help. It’s a big problem,” said a woman named Rosie, who works for the Sigmund Pretzel Cart, which also pays the city.

“They won’t do anything -- the cops, the city,” fumed Dan Rossi, the lone veteran who was approved to sell hot dogs outside the Met.

Hunt said he quickly lost 40 percent of his business, so he quit paying his franchise fees in August.

What really irks Hunt is that one of his unauthorized competitors is purportedly a former Parks Department franchisee who gave up a six-figure contract and now “rents a vet” to avoid paying the city.

The vets sit beside the cart to make it supposedly legitimate, while other workers peddle the food and drinks.

Parks officials said they’re well aware of the problem and are working with the NYPD -- which hands out summonses virtually every day -- to determine “if additional enforcement measures can be taken.”

Hunt is eager to keep selling his $3 organic cupcakes and $5 shakes, but he’s asking Parks officials for a reduced franchise fee until the illegals are booted.

“I said if you can’t get the guys out of here, we need to renegotiate the contract,” he said. “They said no renegotiating.”

Read More:

Gourmet cupcake vendor refusing to pay rent due to battle with Met 'squatters'

New York Post - October 9, 2011 - By Rebecca Rosenberg and David Seifman

Veteran Vendor bust Met beef

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Did The NYPD Alienate Parkland in Front of Metropolitan Museum of Art Without State Legislation?

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