The question of how the economy is affecting the cupcake business and cupcake bakeries is one we keep getting asked. I don't think there's a definitive response, but the expansion plans for chains like Crumbs and Sprinkles, not to mention store openings happening everywhere from New York to Austin and beyond, at least show that the cupcake business isn't dead.
In The Contra Costa Times (though I believe this was originally published in The Oakland Tribune), Angela Hill explores the economic impact of indulging in her new neighborhood cupcake bakeries, Kara's Cupcakes and Sprinkles Cupcakes:
But be advised, buying today's trendy cupcake, in addition to spending $3.25 a pop, is a little intimidating. Some of these fancy-shmancy cupcake shops are designed with art-gallery minimalism, white walls and blond-wood counters. They have biodegradable napkins with soy-ink printing.
You could probably eat them, too. They have menus printed on the wall in sans serif fonts and frosted-glass front doors that you can't really see through, like the VIP entry for nightclubs in Vegas, but these bear signs that say, "Please keep door closed. It helps maintain the freshness of our cupcakes," as though association with the very air might taint their well-baked reputations.
My big sis and I had read about two gourmet cupcake shops that recently opened near her home in Los Altos, so we thought it would be a fun sister outing. There's Kara's Cupcakes, which has two S.F. locations, and now has an outpost in the Town & Country shopping center on El Camino. And there's the Beverly-Hills-based Sprinkles store that just opened its latest depot in Stanford Shopping Center. Sprinkles is so hip that it even has a MySpace page and 2,716 MySpace friends, including Heidi Klum, who bought a year's supply of cakes for Victoria Beckham's birthday. Now I can sleep soundly.
In The Contra Costa Times (though I believe this was originally published in The Oakland Tribune), Angela Hill explores the economic impact of indulging in her new neighborhood cupcake bakeries, Kara's Cupcakes and Sprinkles Cupcakes:
But be advised, buying today's trendy cupcake, in addition to spending $3.25 a pop, is a little intimidating. Some of these fancy-shmancy cupcake shops are designed with art-gallery minimalism, white walls and blond-wood counters. They have biodegradable napkins with soy-ink printing.
You could probably eat them, too. They have menus printed on the wall in sans serif fonts and frosted-glass front doors that you can't really see through, like the VIP entry for nightclubs in Vegas, but these bear signs that say, "Please keep door closed. It helps maintain the freshness of our cupcakes," as though association with the very air might taint their well-baked reputations.
My big sis and I had read about two gourmet cupcake shops that recently opened near her home in Los Altos, so we thought it would be a fun sister outing. There's Kara's Cupcakes, which has two S.F. locations, and now has an outpost in the Town & Country shopping center on El Camino. And there's the Beverly-Hills-based Sprinkles store that just opened its latest depot in Stanford Shopping Center. Sprinkles is so hip that it even has a MySpace page and 2,716 MySpace friends, including Heidi Klum, who bought a year's supply of cakes for Victoria Beckham's birthday. Now I can sleep soundly.
Comments
On the other hand, some products may have an advantage during crisis, especially alcohol. And maybe cupcakes too. Maybe they are a perfect treatment for the depressed souls :)
Best wishes
Jay