See the MyFox Tampa Bay cupcake photo gallery for lots more cupcake images. (sorry, I can't tell exactly which bakery this image is from)
MyFox Tampa Bay covered the business side of several area cupcake bakeries, calling cupcakes "recession-resistant." They also mention Cupcake Cupcakes! (apparently, adding an exclamation point to your bakery name is also a new trend!).
“It’s an affordable indulgence,” said Nicole Rogers, owner of The Cupcake Spot on Dale Mabry. “Customers may not be able to buy new cars or make other major purchases, but they can afford a cupcake.”
While many other companies face bankruptcies and downsizing, sales have been so strong that The Cupcake Spot opened a St. Petersburg shop in January and Rogers said she plans to move the Tampa store to a larger building on MacDill Avenue this summer.
Cupcake Cupcakes, Sweet! By Good Golly Miss Holly , Alessi Bakery and Wright’s Gourmet House owners said they also planned on expansions, either in the size of their stores or adding locations in other parts of the state...
Like Wright’s Gourmet House, local bakeries and cupcakeries aren’t like the standard fare found at elementary school birthday parties. They don’t come with plastic rings featuring cartoon characters’ faces, they don’t all look alike and – what may be most noticeable to the first-time specialty cupcake buyer – they aren’t a half-dozen for $4.
Depending on the company, gourmet cupcakes tend to cost between $2 and $4 apiece. The higher cost may seem contradictory to consumers’ desire for deals to cope with the recession, but cupcake sellers say people looking for a decadent dessert find the handheld treat a way to binge on luxury without injuring one’s wallet.
“We know how hard things are right now, so we’re very sensitive about price,” Nicholson said. “It’s more expensive than grocery store cupcakes, but that’s because of the quality of the ingredients.”
WKMG Orlando covered cupcake and frozen yogurt shop Sweet! by Good Golly Miss Holly (which the media, wisely, have shortened to Sweet!) and its success:
"People are going crazy over them," Wilder said. "I sell definitely 2,500 a day."
Sweet! opened its doors in Orlando in July 2008 and the store has been mixing thousands of pounds of icing and cupcake batter ever since.
"We are recession-proof. People come from as far as Tampa, Jacksonville, Deland, Sanford. They come here to have the experience of an outing, like this is a destination for them," Wilder said.
One reason for the shop's recession-proof status may be explained by a recent consumer group survey. The survey found that "sin stocks," like chocolate, cigarettes and alcohol, historically sell well during times of economic recession.
Local chocolate companies reported they are doing well because people look at chocolate as an affordable luxury.
"It is so hard to get away from them," customer Jose Gonzalez said. "I like them. They are good."
Wilder said she never worried her business would fail. She said she saw a need for her product in Central Florida and believed location and people would be the key to her success.
planet cupcakes
Duck theme cupcakes and cake
Images via the Sweet! by Good Golly Miss Holly blog
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Thank you!