photo by Flickr user princesscupcake729
A few weeks ago, the owner of Babycakes in Richmond, Virginia, wrote to us to let us know about their shop. Then I found photos by Flickr user princesscupcake729 from yet another Babycakes, this one Babycakes Cupcakes in Quincy, Massachusetts.
My take, as a cupcake blogger and observer, is this: Future bakery owners of America, do NOT name your bakery Babycakes! Sure, it's cute, and you could say cupcakes are baby cakes. But it's been done. A LOT. By my count, there are bakeries named some version of Babycakes in New York (with a branch opening soon in LA), Austin, Kansas City, Missouri, Sacramento, Richmond, Virginia, Torrance, California, and Quincy.
Readers, what do you think? Are having too many Babycakes, or whatever the next cupcakery name du jour is, confusing, or do you not care? Please note - this is not about the taste of their cupcakes, but about creating a strong identity for your bakery, which lives, yes, in your town, but also online, and is part of a larger cupcake community. I believe it's better business to make yourself unique, have a great story behind your name, have a logo, and really own your name, whatever it is. Some of the above bakeries do play on the theme of "Babycakes" (like the above Quincy Babycakes photo which has "Babycake" written across their signature cupcake) and I'm not saying it can't be done, but I think 7 (and soon to be 8) Babycakes in this country is enough.
Babycakes bakery owners - we'd love your feedback for a followup post! How'd you come up with the name Babycakes? How do you feel about the many other Babycakes bakeries that exist? Write to us at cupcakestakethecake at yahoo.com and we'll do another post next week on this topic, or leave a comment here.
Comments
To me, the name of a place is very important. Especially if you are going to be broadcasting to a large market. If you just want to attract locals walking by in a small town your business will have more of a chance to speak for itself. But I know that when looking for businesses online or in the phone book I carefully consider them based on their name.
So yes, there are too many Babycakes.
The owner of the shop needs to go with a name they love and believe in, completely! If Babycakes is that name then so be it.
My suggestion would be: if you have your heart on naming your place Babycakes, do so, but add an identity tag like the name of the town/city/mall. Example:
Babycakes of Soho, Babycakes at Preston Center Mall, Babycakes of Limerick.
=) That's my 2bits on the matter
I did enjoy the one Babycakes Bakery I came across at a Baby Expo...they rolled uber lux burb clothes, snuggle blankets, wash clothes, bibs and other baby things up as cupcakes, sweet rolls, etc (NOT your average diaper cake) then had their display set like a french cafe. I was in love! but knew what babies did to $40 burp clothes so had to pass.
Name it something with an "A", get a head in the directory...A Babycake. <-sarcastic
That being said, Babycakes is cute and all, but it is, indeed, overused.
Lexington, Kentucky, has a cupcake bakery of that name:
www.bb-cakes.com/
They've got a cupcakes happy hour, kind of fun!
It's definitely an overused name, but I don't believe that Kentucky even has another cupcake bakery, so it doesn't seem to matter much to Kentuckians...