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Food Truck Tiff Highlights Challenge to Growing Industry

By DNAinfo Staff on April 22, 2011 2:55pm  | Updated on April 23, 2011 11:57am

By Olivia Scheck

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MIDTOWN EAST — The owners of two popular food trucks exchanged barbs on Twitter Friday over a piece of premium real estate in Midtown East.

"Just found out @cupcakecrewnyc in our spot on 52nd & lex. Tried 2 ask them to leave and the guy is threatening us," a post on the Twitter feed for Schnitzel & Things, winner of a 2009 Vendy Award, alleged about 10:30 a.m.

The Twitter account for Cupcake Crew NYC quickly bit back, reversing the allegation of unvendor-like behavior.

"@schnitznthings excuse us...you sent some guy to our truck banging on the truck and then handed us a phone with you screaming and cursing!" the post claimed.

By 11 a.m., the spat had been resolved with the owners — Oleg Voss of Schnitzel & Things and "Frankie Cupcakes" of Cupcake Crew NYC — agreeing to share the corner, at the intersection of Lexington Avenue and East 52nd Street, and even negotiating the terms of a cross-promotional deal.

Veal and Chicken Schnitzel, Burger Lolli with Cheese, Austrian Potato Salad, Cucumber Salad, Braised Sauerkraut and Chickpea Salad from the Scnitzel & Things food truck.
Veal and Chicken Schnitzel, Burger Lolli with Cheese, Austrian Potato Salad, Cucumber Salad, Braised Sauerkraut and Chickpea Salad from the Scnitzel & Things food truck.
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Flickr/Gary Wong

But the tiff served to highlight what the men described as a frequent problem for food truck vendors. 

With hundreds of regulations governing where vendors can park and with an increasing number of gourmet food trucks hitting the streets, finding a quality spot to call your own can be a challenge, they said.

"It's everyday," Cupcakes, a former personal chef, complained. "Everybody's trying to put a name on a parking spot." 

Voss did suggest some dominion over the space, insisting, "The truck community knows we're here every Friday."

Cupcakes conceded that he had never parked there before.

While the Brooklyn-based cupcake entrepreneur acknowledged "an unspoken rule that if you're at the same spot on a regular basis it's yours," he argued that the practice did not apply since the two men sell sufficiently different products.

Cupcakes also emphasized the importance of switching up locations, explaining "If I sell these people a cupcake on Monday, they're probably not gonna want one on Tuesday."

Voss, who also owns a brick-and-mortar location in Turtle Bay, said he came to accept Cupcakes' logic, suggesting that customers come to him for lunch and stop by the Cupcake Crew for dessert.

While the schnitzel king did note that competition had increased among food truck vendors since he began in the industry, he argued that the growing popularity was ultimately good for everybody. 

"You don't want to be a [passing] trend or a fad," Voss, who said he attended NYU business school, explained. "We're trying to create a community of vendors."