Every Tuesday and Thursday, Kate McEachern parks her polka-dotted truck in front of Smart Alec's Intelligent Food restaurant. But instead of dishing out the typical taco from her vehicle, she serves gourmet pumpkin spice and s'mores cupcakes to sweet-toothed customers on the street.

"It's the convenience of the truck that's so advantageous," she said. "I can move and be where the people are."

McEachern, through her company called Cupkates, has traversed Elmwood, Downtown Berkeley and areas near the UC Berkeley campus for the past two months to sell the cupcakes she bakes herself.

For McEachern, having a mobile cupcakery has been more advantageous than having her own store because it provides her with the ability to serve all of the Berkeley community without being tied down to a single location and customer base.

"I have the ability to move when it's slow and be in a place when it's particularly busy," McEachern said. "It's mobile and flexible."

John Moriarty, a boardmember for the Elmwood Merchants Association, said that although the cupcake truck appears to be a successful business model in Elmwood, it may also be a hindrance to other businesses when the truck parks in front of stores.

"I think it's a great idea," he said. "She does well here so obviously people like it, but I'm sure she's stepping on (another business's) toes."

Nevertheless, McEachern said that starting a mobile business has not been an easy undertaking. Because her business does not have a stable store, she had to go through more paperwork to ensure her truck follows the city's strict health standards and to get permits for parking her truck in the city.

"It's inevitably different," she said. "Getting permits for my business is a long and expensive process. ... I had to build my truck to code."

McEachern also said that she still must pay a monthly rent to cook her cupcakes in a cooperative kitchen in Richmond since the state does not permit businesses to sell products baked in private homes.

However, the challenges she faces seem typical of the growing cupcake-truck business that has been permeating the Bay Area over the past few years.

According to Lena Shagoury, owner and baker of Sweetface Bakery, which also sometimes sells its gourmet cupcakes from a truck in Berkeley, obtaining permits for her business has been particularly difficult because she, too, sells her baked goods in several Bay Area counties.

"Depending on different counties, there are different requirements," Shagoury said. "(Getting all the permits) takes patience and diligence."

However, she still says the truck has been advantageous because she does not have to pay a monthly lease or electric bill to operate it.

Another challenge that this particular business model faces is overcoming the misconception that trucks are "roach coaches" that only sell fast food items like hotdogs, Shagoury said.

"We're operating from trucks for sure, but we're using the best ingredients we can find," she said. "We're using gourmet ingredients, and we're going to hopefully have a lot of happy customers."

To compensate for the constant mobility of the truck, McEachern said that she relies on continually updating her Facebook and Twitter to keep her customers informed of her current locations.

Kara Lind, owner of Kara's Cupcakes, another cupcake truck that sells in Berkeley, said that she also overcomes the challenges inherent in this business model by focusing on building her brand name.

"Cupcakes are different than tacos," Lind said. "Our cupcakes are different because of the branding of Kara's Cupcakes."

As McEachern packaged her velvet cupcakes in boxes for customers waiting on the street, she spoke optimistically about selling out by 3 p.m. because her cupcakes are made from the finest San Francisco chocolate and Madagascar vanilla made in Richmond.

"It's out of a truck," said UC Berkeley junior Aaron Wolfgang. "The s'mores are definitely the best."

Tags: CUPKATES