Name: Fraser Kelton
Location: NYC
Occupation: Biz Dev @ AdaptiveBlue
URL: company: www.adaptiveblue.com blog: www.disruptivethoughts.com
twitter: www.twitter.com/fraser
I noticed cupcakes at a couple of tech events recently. Do you think it's a trend?
Absolutely. There are two emerging areas in NYC that are gathering
attention on a global level. One is the cupcake culture. The other is
NYC's tech start-up community. It only makes sense that the two groups
collaborate to support one another. Both cupcakes and start-ups
require similar skill sets, there's a natural respect and affinity
between cupcakeurs and entrepreneurs. Personally, I'd like to see more
overlap between the two.
You're Canadian. Are cupcakes as popular in Canada as they are here
in the States?
As with all great American cultural trends of recent memory (Surf
Style jackets, rat tail hair cuts, Oprah), cupcakes are penetrating
Canada a little while after their initial rise in the States and are
generally toned down when they do appear. For example, shortly before
I moved to ny a cupcake store opened a few blocks from my place
WestDale Cupcakes. Initially they focused on the
staples - chocolate and vanilla. It took them some time to introduce
more advanced flavours, such as Cherry Bomb. Possibly they were
strategic and identified chocolate and vanilla as the correct foothold
market for penetration into the broader market. Or, perhaps, not.
How often do you eat cupcakes?
Not often enough. There are two times that I'll eat a cupcake -
when an out-of-town friend is visiting and I'm attempting to show why
ny is the best city in the world; and, when I randomly stumble across
a cupcake shop. I really need to start going out of my way to consume
more cupcakes.
What's your favorite cupcake? Bakery or flavor?
The Artie Lange cupcake from Crumbs. Fiiiiiiiiiiiire!
Is there any innovation you'd like to see made to the cupcake that
would improve it for you?
One minor thing is that I'd love to see more experimentation with
candy like Big Feet and Hot Lips. This, of course, is due to my love
for those things, but I do think that the combination of textures and
flavours could do big things.
The real area where I'd like to see innovation is in the branding of
cupcake shops and the cupcakes themselves. While so many cupcakeurs
are pushing boundaries with ingredients and presentation, there is
absolutely no innovation or creativity when it comes to naming
cupcakes and the shops that sell them. How creative are names like
Babycakes, Little Pie Company, Buttercup Bake Shop, Cupcake Cafe?
Q: What's your first cupcake-related memory?
I was 5 years old and I remember enjoying a fresh from the oven
cupcake made by my mom while she read The Mouse and the Motorcycle to
my brother and I.
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