The Cupcake Truck V1

DRAFT-Chapter 2 -The TRUCK

Where am I going to get a food truck? Its early summer of 2010 and the food truck era has not made its way to St. Louis. So, finding a food truck is not easy and I don’t even know what I need. There are NO regulations, no one to go to ask questions and not even sure this is legal here.  We are starting something new.



I begin my search on eBay for a food truck of any kind which would work for what we needed it to do, which is transport our fresh baked cupcakes from west county to downtown. The only thing I think I need is a window to sell from and maybe an AC unit to keep the cupcakes cool.  After a week of searching on the keyword “Food Truck,” I decided to change my search to “Sprinter” which is the type of truck I thought I wanted. I thought worst-case scenario my brother and I would customize a plain Dodge Sprinter Van into a “cupcake truck”. What finally came up was a truck being listed as a 2004 Freightliner Sprinter. It was not listed as a food truck but sure looked like one. It had two side serving windows. It was customized with all stainless-steel back area and had a three sink plus a handwashing sink. I had not thought about needing all of those but sure looks good. So, I did what everyone does I contacted the person outside EBAY to see what he had and if we could work out a deal. He called me but his accent was heavy (Russian) and I was having a hard time understanding if he owned it or if he was just selling it. What I figured out quickly he had NO idea what he was selling and could not give me any history about the truck. It was being sold as-is during this time the auction closed without anyone bidding on it. I made him an offer which was lower than his reserve and he took it.

Come to find out he was a dealer who already sold it to a person in California but once the buyer found out how much it was going to cost to ship it from Philadelphia  to California he decided to have this guy re-sell it for him. Basically, I was buying a truck from a guy who technically did not own it and never did talk to the real owner.



It was Thursday and I was hoping to still fly out this week to get the truck. I made my way to the bank to get a cashier’s check for the total amount. I have a really good business relationship with my bank, and I talk to the same person each time I am there. I started to explain why I was there, and she asked why I was not getting a loan for the truck instead of taking it out of my personal account? I explained to her that I need the money in the next couple of hours so I could fly out tomorrow. She said lets she what we can do.



She began to ask me standard questions:



Banker: What is the year? Make? And Model of the van?

Me: 2004 Freightliner Sprinter



Banker: What was the sale price?

Me: Uhhhh



I realize quickly that if you were just looking at the Blue Book value of this Van it was going to come back with a value of something like $7000. But it was not just a plain plumbers van.



Me: It’s a food truck we are going to use for a new business and proceed to tell her how much I paid for it.



Banker: “You’re going to do what with it? Well, that might be an issue, but I think we can work around it.”

Me: “Ok great”



Banker: What is the Vin # and the name of the seller?

Me: “Well that’s a funny story…..”



I had the VIN and technically I did have the seller name but not much else.



Banker: Does the seller have a clean title to the Van?

Me: Uhhh…..Sure



Apparently, banks don’t think too highly about lending money for cars or trucks that substantially over the blue book, are 5 years or older and being sold by someone that is in California but the van is in Philly AND one that has never seen or driven by the person they are lending the money to.  



What I failed to tell the bank (technically was not asked) was that the guy I was buying it from (CA guy) did not ever take ownership of the title. The guy I was picking it up from (Philly guy) did not have the title. The title was in escrow in Alabama with some company. Did I mention I have a really good relationship with my bank? With all that said, in less than 3hours I had a cashier’s check in my hand for the FULL amount.



I immediately purchased a plane ticket that day to fly to Philly.  The next day, Saturday morning, I was dropped off downtown by a friend of mine and then hailed a cab downtown to take me to look at the truck.



As we were getting closer to what I thought was the location I noticed that we were in a heavily industrial area and most of the buildings were surrounded by fences with barb wire. After arriving outside the location, the cab driver said “ok you are here” but we were outside an open gate and about 200 yards from the building. I asked if he could take me to the building and he looked at me like I was asking him to take me to the moon. He said no…and then he said, “do you know them”? I replied, “I am buying a truck from them,” He asked for his money and then said be careful and good luck”?! I am typically not intimidated by many people or situations, but this made me pause for a second. I was at the entrance to what looked like a greasy auto shop for big trucks and buses. It was not clean at all. There were tires, batteries and used oil containers laying all over the place.

I made my way to the building, but it appeared no one was there…This place was a garage and did not have a office which you could enter. I entered the garage door, I called but no one responded.  I walked in and headed to the back where I could hear a TV playing, specifically I could hear what sounded like a game playing but it was in a different language which sounded Russian. I finally got back to a small break room which was dirty and crap laying everywhere. In the room were five Russian men sitting watching a World Cup Soccer game.  They all stopped and looked at me like I had entered a sacred area. I could tell they were not happy. So I decided to do something that might get me liked. I made fun of their soccer team and said that they needed to play a better offense to ever get into the World Cup. Russia did not qualify for the World Cup that year. They all looked at me and laughed and agreed. I am a huge soccer fan and had played college soccer and was just at the previous World Cup in Germany so I knew I could talk about the game. Ice Broken.

One of the gentlemen got up and introduced himself and to this day I wish I could remember his name.  All I can remember was that his hands were dirty and they were HUGE.  We walked over to the van which was parked in between two big busses. He pulled it out so I could begin looking it over. It was not in great shape and it needed a lot of cleaning but for the most part, it was everything the pictures showed.  The generator started right up and ran like a champ.  As we were looking at the generator a guy from the next garage came up to us and asked me what my plans were for the truck and I told him, “A CUPCAKE TRUCK”. Four of these big brawny guys looked at me and laughed then the one that came from the garage next door said in his best broken English , “You do not need that generator” At this time I did not know anything about generators, watts needed, or what I needed but I did know I needed a generator.  He offered to remove the generator and pay me cash for it. I politely told him no thanks but with the offer he made me and what I paid for the truck I knew I got a good deal.

As part of this confusing agreement for the truck we needed to head to a local Kinkos, put this cashier’s check in a FedEx envelope and mail it to the guy in California. And in turn, the guy in CA would release the title being held in escrow in Alabama. This was done because the CA guy was not sure he could trust any of us. I don’t blame him.  



Once that was done, I took him back to the garage but realized that I was going to need some temporary tags if I was going to drive this all the way back to St. Louis. I asked him for some tags. He seemed a little put out but said OK let’s drive the truck and I will take you to the local DMV. We drove about 5 miles and arrived at the DMV. Keep in mind this is a Saturday morning around noon, in Philly. He opened the door and people were jammed packed in this place.  I made my way to get a number.  I think the number serving on the wall said 20 and the next ticket in my hand said 72 This is going to take all afternoon. As I turned to show the number to my new Russian friend I noticed he had walked thru the crowd, to the counter, lifted up the counter (like a flap) to go behind the desk, he walked down a hall way, into an open office. This entire time I was just following him. I was not sure I was supposed to but I did. He walked into a small office, he got onto the computer, filled out a form for a temporary tag and hit print. I was thinking ‘What is happening?’ He got up picked up the printed copy and handed it to me and said, “here is your tag”.



We then headed out towards the front door, back through the crowd but this time we were facing them.  The next thing you know people were greeting my new friend and shaking his hand. Some almost bowed their heads when then said hello. I felt like I was walking behind a celebrity. I got the occasional ‘How are you?’ I was thinking ‘better now that I did not have to wait in that line’



I have come to learn Philly has an area where there are more Russian people than anywhere in the US. I assume I was in the middle of it, and with a “local celebrity”.



We got back in the truck and I turned to him and said, “What was that?” “Do you have family that works there?” and all he said was “They like me there”. I did not ask any additional questions, I drove him back to the garage, I said goodbye to my new friend and left for the 900+ mile drive to St. Louis.  I finally got on the road out of Philly around 1pm. I drove straight back only stopping for gas and food.

The entire experience was so strange I wrote it down the next day so I would not forget the details.