The sweet-and-savory dream team of Gooey Louie Gooey Butter Cakes and The Lou Charcuterie recently opened a co-branded shop in downtown Kirkwood.
The new retail outlet features two businesses that are synonymous with St. Louis-themed treats. Gooey Louie sells an assortment of fresh-baked gooey butter cakes, while The Lou Charcuterie offers pre-orders on charcuterie boards and single serves, as well as packaged products for do-it-yourselfers looking to create their own edible works of art. Their culinary synergy happens in a storefront at 343 S. Kirkwood, with a kitchen setup thanks to its previous tenants, a Smallcakes cupcakery and a sandwich shop.
Here’s what to know before you go.
The Atmosphere
This is the first brick-and-mortar location for owner Carley Sanders of The Lou Charcuterie, which specializes in grazing boards and tables filled with fresh cheeses, meats, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and other goodies. The shop serves as a convenient pickup location for pre-orders, as well as a home base where Sanders can prep for event deliveries.
The familiar googly eyed gooey butter cake mascot peeks over the top of the work area and sales counter where owner Debbie Stieferman has full-size and single-serve cakes packaged and ready. She splits her time between baking in the kitchen and staffing the counter when Sanders is making deliveries.
In Gooey Louie’s other two shops, in Creve Coeur (11266 Olive) and Clayton (7719 Clayton), Stieferman pays homage to St. Louis foods beyond the gooey butter cake, including Red Hot Riplets, Mound City nuts, and Bissinger’s chocolates. That’s true of the Kirkwood location, too—and she plays up the butter theme even more with fun non-edible items, from kitchen towels to rugs to pool noodles.
One of the benefits of adding a third location was the additional oven space that it offers. “We’ve really built our business up, and we were bursting at the seams,” Stieferman says. “During the holidays, we were completely maxed out. This will help us keep up with demand, so I don’t stress out my baking staff in Creve Coeur.”
The expansive glass-partitioned work area doubles as a greeting station for arriving customers, who can either browse the displays of pre-packaged foods or pick up cheeses and meats from a small cooler. If Sanders is not out on a delivery, then she’ll be behind the counter to accept pre-orders or the occasional walk-in charcuterie board assembly if time permits. Eventually, she also plans to offer grab-and-go boxes.
The Menu
In promoting the new shop, Sanders and Stieferman playfully divide customers into “team cheese” and “team cake.” But the in-person experience is seamless—and Stieferman says they’re already seeing overlap in sales from customers who express an interest in both lines of products.
The gooey butter cake options start with the original flavor, which Stieferman says is popular among St. Louis-based customers. The menu branches out into seasonal flavors (such as blueberry for the Blues playoffs or chocolate “dirt” for spring) and popular specialties such as caramel snickerdoodle, lemon, and strawberry, which sell particularly well with out-of-town customers ordering online. Occasionally, the flavors get even more creative, with ingredients such as cotton candy or themes like STL Princess, in honor of Missouri native Chapell Roan. And Stieferman always has gooey butter cookies in stock as well.
Sanders launched The Lou Charcuterie as a hobby related to her love of cheese, so it’s no surprise that she stocks 12 to 15 types of local cheeses. She’s also a proponent of local artisan meats and hummus for her boards, boxes, and grazing tables.
The Lou Charcuterie features gift baskets of packaged foods plus all the fixings for building your own, right down to the boards. There’s a selection of wooden boards as well as disposable options.
As Sanders’ business grew, her father, Chris, made many of the wooden boards, including the labor-intensive (and extremely popular) Christmas tree shapes for the holidays. He recently invested in a machine that will streamline the process, and Sanders looks forward to stocking his custom-made boards again in the coming weeks.
The Team
Stieferman, who was a full-time graphic designer before starting Gooey Louie in 2006, is a master at coming up with clever packaging for holidays, special events, and personal celebrations such as weddings. The designs add an ever-changing aura of whimsy to the shop.
Sanders elevates the boards themselves to art forms, whether they’re created around a theme—for example, the flower-shaped Mother’s Day board—or custom-designed in partnership with clients.
The two owners started collaborating on “char-goo-terie” boards during the pandemic, not long after Sanders started her business in 2020. As a former small startup herself, Stieferman knew all about the challenges of running an independent food business out of co-ops and commercial kitchens. “If you’re doing food full time, you can only sustain being temporary for so long,” she says.
But leasing a property with everything that a culinary operation needs can be prohibitively expensive, so being able to co-locate the two businesses is a perfect solution, Stieferman says. The Kirkwood location’s convenience was also a selling point, because both businesses have many customers who travel to pick up their orders.
“At its core, this new storefront is about community, creativity, and celebrating St. Louis flavor,” Sanders said in a press release announcing the opening. “We’re thrilled to have a space where people can explore unique charcuterie options and pair them with the ultimate sweet treat.”
The Lou Charcuterie and Gooey Louie
📍343 S. Kirkwood
📞 The Lou Charcuterie: 314-614-6137 | Gooey Louie: 314-608-3734
⏰ 11 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Tue-Fri, 11 a.m.–3:30 p.m. Sat
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