ST. LOUIS — Missouri Baking Company will now be under the direction of a court-appointed trustee, who will keep the bakery operational and profitable as it awaits auction amid suspicions between the two owners.
Attorneys for the company’s two owners met in court Wednesday to appoint attorney Dudley McCarter as trustee. The sale has not been scheduled.
For months, the two owners of the Missouri Bakery Co., a famed family-owned Italian bakery in the city’s Hill neighborhood, have clashed over its fate.
In July, Missouri Baking Co.’s owners, Camille Lordo, the granddaughter of the bakery’s original owner, and Anthony Favazza, a local restaurateur, agreed to end the ownership group and sell the bakery. Favazza previously told the Post-Dispatch said that he aims to buy the business.
The two don’t trust each other and can’t agree on how to operate the business. Lordo said she never wanted her brother to sell his share of the bakery to Favazza, whom she had never met until he bought 50% of the bakery last summer.
This week, Favazza asked Lordo’s attorney, Mark Sanders, for access to surveillance footage from the company’s cameras and its digital point of sales records. Favazza has previously said that he doesn’t believe that Lordo is running the bakery honestly and he wants more checks and balances in place.
Sanders argued that Favazza should not be able to access some of that information. On Wednesday, Judge Joseph Whyte ruled in favor of Favazza and told the two sides that they need to work out some of their disagreements themselves, outside of court.
“We are where we are,†Whyte said. “If we stop arguing, we can go on our way and get the business sold.â€
