After a monthslong fight, a bakery and cafe tied to Black empowerment groups will open though St. Louis denied it a conditional use permit last year.
The St. Louis Board of Adjustment voted Wednesday to allow the Uhuru Bakery and Café to open on West Florissant Avenue in the College Hill neighborhood. The north city bakery, which is tied to the African People's Socialist Party and the Uhuru Solidarity Movement, will have to follow a string of conditions. Those include closing by 9 p.m. and keeping its liquor license in good standing, something the lawyer representing the members promised.
The Zoom meeting featured more than two hours of testimony by people from the St. Louis area and other parts of the country. Many supported the bakery and its mission, saying it will offer fresh food in a food desert.
“When it’s time to eat, have a cup of coffee or tea or have a glass of wine or meet with our friends, we have to leave our community, and that is so unfortunate,” said Mary Wheeler Jones, a resident of the 11th Ward. “I think the rejection of this application is a disrespect to the residents of this community.”
The African People’s Education and Defense Fund has implemented projects across the St. Louis area, including a basketball court in the city’s Fairground neighborhood that cost almost $130,000 to build. It also sponsors Uhuru Foods and Pies in St. Louis and St. Petersburg, Florida.
“Uhuru Foods and Café has been baking for the past 40 years in 17 different kitchens in the San Francisco Bay area,” said Ona Zene’ Yeshitela, the African People’s Education and Defense Fund board president. “Now we have our own facility to produce our pies and our comfort foods.”
The Board of Public Service denied a conditional use permit in September, about a month after the College Hill Neighborhood Association also objected to the cafe.
Members of the neighborhood association expressed their disapproval at the meeting, citing its intent to sell alcohol and recent legal issues surrounding members connected to the café.
“We are deeply troubled by the documented history of the Uhuru group leadership,” said Devante Saunders, a neighborhood association member.
The controversy kicked off after the FBI raided the African People's Socialist Party and the Uhuru Solidarity Movement offices in St. Louis and St. Petersburg in 2022. Three of its leaders, including Ona Zene’ Yeshitela’s husband, Omali Yeshitela, Penny Joanne Hess and Jesse Nevel were federally indicted on charges of acting as unregistered Russian agents. They faced three years in prison but were acquitted last fall.
In December, the three were instead convicted of conspiracy, a lesser charge. A U.S. District judge ruled they won’t face prison time but will have to complete 300 hours of community service.
“We’d love to have restaurants, [but] I wouldn’t go to one that was tied to the Russian propaganda people," said Teri Rose, a member of the College Hill Neighborhood Association.
The comment sparked outrage between the association and supporters of the cafe, who accused Rose of lying. Board Chair Anthony Robinson was frustrated by the fracas, which followed an earlier interruption when the meeting was breached by hackers who hijacked the Zoom stream to display porn.
But Robinson said he believed the café would provide economic growth for the community.
“I understand the neighborhood organization’s position, but I also understand that a lot of establishments can’t make things work without [alcohol],” he said. “But I also view a bakery/café/restaurant differently than a convenience store/gas station selling alcohol.”
The cafe’s backers provided several letters of support from state Rep. Marlon Anderson, 14th Ward Committeeman Anthony Bell and Alderman Rasheen Aldridge.
Aldridge initially opposed the cafe. After the meeting, he said conversations with Uhuru members helped him understand their work and ultimately change his mind.
“The work that I’ve seen that they were doing with rehabbing, the Uhuru house, the basketball court and some other things does seem to be a positive take [to] me in the area that doesn’t get a lot of investment,” Aldridge said.
Aldridge said he looks forward to facilitating conversations between the neighborhood association and Uhuru members.
“I’m willing to mediate that so that we all can be on the same page,” Aldridge said. “But ultimately, I was looking at what can be the best for the growth of the College Hill neighborhood that does not have a lot of growth right now.”
