A new watchdog organization called Burg’s Eye View is accusing the Ken Welch administration of spending nearly $15,000 over a six-month period on food orders from Jimmy John’s and Hungry Howie’s.

A graphic the new outlet posted to Facebook this week claims there were 111 charges from Oct. 1, 2025, through May 31, 2026, on orders from both fast food chains. The graphic shows calendars for each month analyzed, with orange circles representing days orders were made, covering nearly every other day throughout the period, including on weekends and holidays.

The graphic does not spell out whom the orders fed or what city department made them.

The claims are based on a public records request Burg’s Eye View submitted to the city for spending activity. Florida Politics has requested records from the city, but has not yet received them.

Burg’s Eye View was created and is edited by Brad Falbo, who the website describes as a St. Pete resident frustrated over a lack of transparency at City Hall. The website’s “about” page explains that records shared come directly from public city records, including City Council agenda packets, meeting minutes, meeting results, video, city archives, documents obtained through public record request and court records involving the city.

While the city has not yet provided records to Florida Politics, Falbo shared the documents he viewed with Florida Politics.

Falbo is also known as Brad McCoy. He filed a lawsuit against the city last year arguing some of his public records requests to the city went unanswered for more than a year.

A quick review of thousands of lines of spending appear to confirm Falbo’s claims, though the data suggest the spending may not be as out of the ordinary as his graphic implies.

The analysis of food spending at City Hall is the first investigation the outlet has published. The website lists future projects, including whether there are conflicts of interest or unethical governance at play under the Welch administration.

A post on Burg’s Eye View’s website expands on the food claim, noting that over a 24-month period from August 2024 until July 26, the city spent $1.67 million on food, averaging about $70,000 a month or $2,300 a day.

Overall, the analysis claims that more than $2.1 million was spent on food by the city over a 34-month period.

The analysis takes particular aim at a lack of transparency in how food purchases are recorded and tracked, including that about 71% of the expenditures, totaling $1.47 million, do not document what the purchase was for. More than $825,000 of the food purchases documented include no information beyond the store name where the purchase was made.

Florida Politics’ review of the spending records found similar issues.

For example, on New Year’s Eve, the Mayor’s Office spent $3,190 on food. “Food” is the only description of the spending listed in records obtained. The expenditure’s notes use the name Kubisiak, which likely refers to Amanda Kubisiak, an Administrative Coordinator for the city.

Numerous city employees carry purchase cards. When purchases are made, they are uploaded to a system and an approval process is in place to ensure the spending meets city and other statutory requirements. Various administrative staff input expenses, and are reflected in the records Falbo received.

The unspecified food expenditure used the department code 020, which is assigned to the Mayor’s Office. The description also includes “FORIDARA,” which could reference FloridaRAMA, an immersive art exhibit in the Warehouse Arts District.

There’s also a $7,175 purchase on May 31, 2026, attributed to the Mayor’s Office, for “Baja Southern.” That appears to be Baja’s Southern Cooking and Catering in Gulfport, which specializes in classic Southern fried dishes. The expenditure’s notes don’t outline why the purchase was made.

There’s another similar expense paid to what’s listed as “Baja Southern” on July 31 for $2,625 that likewise does not include a description of what the purchase was used for.

The Burg’s Eye View analysis found that only 29% of the expenses reviewed had a clearly stated purpose, while 29% listed only a generic item or use and nearly 40% included no description at all.

The Burg’s Eye View website itself notes that the city has receipts for purchases, but said preparing a public records request to provide them would come with a significant fee. Governments can charge public information-seekers reasonable fees to reimburse for staff time to review, redact as necessary and deliver public records. Typically, only time-consuming records requests incur a fee.

Still, the data analysis is drawing attention.

On Thursday, Burg’s Eye View shared a video on Facebook from the city of St. Pete featuring Assistant City Administrator Tom Greene, who oversees the city’s budget process along with its finance leaders. The video celebrates the “Triple Crown” designation from the Government Finance Officers Association, which recognizes quality public finance operations.

Of the 15 comments on the city’s original post, 12 were critical of the city’s spending practices, with about half of those referencing spending on pizza and subs. The Burg’s Eye View post sharing the video, including a critical caption, drew five comments, all of them either negative toward the city or dripping with sarcasm.

Elsewhere, City Council Member Corey Givens Jr. shared the Burg’s Eye View graphic about Hungry Howie’s and Jimmy John’s purchases with a caption saying “This is YOUR” money, using the money emoji. As of Thursday afternoon it had 57 comments, mixed between those adding context, debating the veracity of the data, all out defending the Welch administration or criticizing the expenditures.

Esther Sanni, who is supporting Welch’s re-election campaign, posted a rebuttal on Thursday with an all-caps headline arguing that context matters. She claimed there were only five purchases totaling $821.94 at Hungry Howie’s, and that all of the purchases were charged to Department 190, which is Parks and Recreation.

Florida Politics searched the spreadsheet Falbo received containing expenditures and found 429 line items under the name “Hungry Howies” (the notes did not include the apostrophe in the pizza chain’s name). Under only department code 020, which is the Mayor’s Office, there are 57 entries containing “Hungry Howies” totaling $4,793 from the end of October through May.

Findings for Jimmy John’s were similar, with 54 listed expenditures totaling more than $10,000. All but one of the expenditures were for $189.25.

While the data provided are limited, there are some interesting trends. Both purchases at Hungry Howie’s and Jimmy John’s were overwhelmingly for the same exact amount across most line items. All of the transactions for both fast food joints were from the same Hungry Howie’s and Jimmy John’s locations, and all had dates listed as the final day of the month, each month.

That spending amounts and locations were the same across purchases suggests the food may be for recurring events.

The Hungry Howie’s listed is Store #239, located at 3073 18th Ave. South, just 1.5 miles from the Enoch Davis Center where the city hosts myriad events. The Jimmy John’s used is located at 750 4th St. North, the closest to City Hall at about 2 miles.

Additionally, the totals entered on the last day of each month may be a result of bookkeeping, not when the purchase actually occurred, meaning totals input on the final day of the month may account for a purchase or purchases earlier in the month.

Nevertheless, the vague data are raising questions at City Hall that may yet have to be answered.