The Rise And Fall Of The Gourmet Cupcake (2024)

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The craze first began in 2000, when Miranda and Carrie munched on Magnolia's Cupcakes on an episode of Sex and the City. Tourists started flocking to Magnolia Bakery's West Village location. And then a Sex and the City tour bus made the location a destination on its NYC tour. After that, cupcake shops started popping up around the country. Sprinkles Cupcakes, founded in 2003, was one of the first. Georgetown Cupcake in Washington, D.C., opened in 2008, and Cupcake Nouveau in Miami also became well-known names. But when Crumbs came around, it blew past the competition. The store was founded in 2003 in New York and grew to 34 locations before going public. Now, the company has 67 locations in 10 states from the West Coast to the East Coast. Things were looking great when Crumbs went public in June 2011 —but they quickly turned sour. Crumbs stock would stagnate for the next two years, until things got even worse in August 2012. Crumbs announced in August that its sales for the year would be down 22% from earlier projections. Some people say that cupcakes don't taste as good since they've gotten so big. Plus, people like to buy "local" cupcakes, which might be keeping them away from Crumbs. Now, some analysts are saying that Crumbs' stock plunge is signaling the burnout of the gourmet cupcake fad. The cupcake industry is still expected to grow. But the rate has slowed from recent years. Now see how another upstart is selling its product. Take a tour of Warby Parker's hip eyeglass showroom > FAQs

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Megan Durisin

2013-04-17T21:33:00Z

Gourmet cupcakes have been popping up everywhere for the past decade.

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The trend that supposedly started with a "Sex and the City" episode went nuclear when CrumbsBakery went public in a reverse merger worth $66 millionin 2011.

But things quickly south for Crumbs, and now it seems the whole trend may be in trouble.

The Wall Street Journal declared today that the gourmet cupcake market is crashing.

The Rise And Fall Of The Gourmet Cupcake (1)

lamantin via flickr

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The craze first began in 2000, when Miranda and Carrie munched on Magnolia's Cupcakes on an episode of Sex and the City.

AP Images

People quickly jumped on fashion trends the show featured.

This time, they jumped on the culinary trend, too.

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Tourists started flocking to Magnolia Bakery's West Village location. And then a Sex and the City tour bus made the location a destination on its NYC tour.

The Rise And Fall Of The Gourmet Cupcake (3)

Magnolia Cupcakes

Emma Forrest wrote an article detailing how the cupcake craze at Magnolia ruined her neighborhood, as tourists began flocking their in droves.

Even Magnolia couldn't keep up with the demandand was taken off the tour in 2010.It was replaced with Billy's Bakery.

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After that, cupcake shops started popping up around the country. Sprinkles Cupcakes, founded in 2003, was one of the first.

The Rise And Fall Of The Gourmet Cupcake (4)

rkbcupcakes via flickr

Its cupcakes went for $3.50 and it bills itself as being the instigator of the cupcake craze.

Its founder, Candace Nelson, later became a judge on Food Network'sCupcake Wars.

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Georgetown Cupcake in Washington, D.C., opened in 2008, and Cupcake Nouveau in Miami also became well-known names.

The Rise And Fall Of The Gourmet Cupcake (5)

alifayre via flickr

Georgetown baked its way to a TLC show, DC Cupcakes,and recently opened its first New York City location.

Cupcake Nouveau was also featured on TLC onCupcake Wars.

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But when Crumbs came around, it blew past the competition. The store was founded in 2003 in New York and grew to 34 locations before going public.

The Rise And Fall Of The Gourmet Cupcake (6)

Snowpea & Bokchoi via flickr

Mia and Jason Bauer opened Crumbs Bakery on New York City's Upper West Side in 2003.

Its cupcakes sold for about $4.50 and the company had locations in six states before its IPO.

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Now, the company has 67 locations in 10 states from the West Coast to the East Coast.

The Rise And Fall Of The Gourmet Cupcake (7)

Justin Marty / Flickr, CC

There are 19 locations in Manhattan alone.

Across the country, at least five more shops are set to open soon, according to the company's website.

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Things were looking great when Crumbs went public in June 2011 —but they quickly turned sour.

The Rise And Fall Of The Gourmet Cupcake (8)

REUTERS/Dario Cantatore/NYSE Euronext

After Crumbs missed earnings, the stock plunged from$13 down to $3.75 by September 2011.

By November, President and CEOJason Bauer had stepped down.

Crumbs stock would stagnate for the next two years, until things got even worse in August 2012.

The Rise And Fall Of The Gourmet Cupcake (9)

Google Finance

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Crumbs announced in August that its sales for the year would be down 22% from earlier projections.

The Rise And Fall Of The Gourmet Cupcake (10)

Sebastien Galy

The company has pinned part of the problem on sales loss in its East Coast stores after Hurricane Sandy.The company estimated the superstorm caused at least $700,000 in losses from its stores that had to close, according to The Wall Street Journal.

This came a week after Crumbs said it needed to raise $10 million in financing.Julian Geiger, Crumbs CEO, said the funds were needed to fuel the company's growth into suburban malls, according toBakingBusiness.com.The co-owner of Canadian frozen yogurt chain Yogen Fruzstepped up to invest.

Consequently, the stock fell even more to $1.49, down 89% from the all-time high.

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Some people say that cupcakes don't taste as good since they've gotten so big.

The Rise And Fall Of The Gourmet Cupcake (11)

Georgetown Cupcake

One writer in the Atlantic Wire voiced her hatred of big cupcake brands.

In her opinion, in most cupcakes today, "the sugar tasted off, now, somehow, the frosting too cloying, the cake part of the cupcake so dry it stuck to the roof of our mouth."

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Plus, people like to buy "local" cupcakes, which might be keeping them away from Crumbs.

The Rise And Fall Of The Gourmet Cupcake (12)

Flickr/mr_t_in_dc

With locations on so many street corners, the appeal of Crumbs could be wearing off.

“People like to buy local now and support the small businesses,” the co-founder of Georgetown Cupcakes told CNBC.

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Now, some analysts are saying that Crumbs' stock plunge is signaling the burnout of the gourmet cupcake fad.

The Rise And Fall Of The Gourmet Cupcake (13)

melalouise/Flickr

With 67 Crumbs locations and many other brands, the market is becoming over-saturated.

One told the Wall Street Journal that "the novelty has worn off."

One analyst noted that people can bake cupcakes themselves and don't need to go to a store every time they want one of the treats.

"Demand is flat,"he told WSJ.

And while there's less data on private cupcake vendors, anecdotal suggests a similar trend.A Jersey City bakery told the Journal that her store brings in half the weekend sales as it did last year.

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The cupcake industry is still expected to grow. But the rate has slowed from recent years.

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The cake decoration store industry is still expected to see 3.7% annual growth in the next five years, according to research firm IBISWorld.

But that growth number used to be 4.9%.

Now see how another upstart is selling its product.

The Rise And Fall Of The Gourmet Cupcake (15)

Megan Willett/Business Insider

Take a tour of Warby Parker's hip eyeglass showroom >

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The Rise And Fall Of The Gourmet Cupcake (2024)

FAQs

What is the gourmet cupcake trend? ›

Gourmet cupcakes have been popping up everywhere for the past decade. The trend that supposedly started with a "Sex and the City" episode went nuclear when Crumbs Bakery went public in a reverse merger worth $66 million in 2011. But things quickly south for Crumbs, and now it seems the whole trend may be in trouble.

Is the cupcake trend over? ›

America's decadelong cupcake craze, which transformed elementary school treats into trendy desserts, is on the wane. The demise of New York City-based Crumbs Bake Shop Inc., which closed its 48 remaining stores this week, showed the limits of getting Americans to pay almost $5 for a snack.

What was the cupcake trend in the 2000s? ›

Three years after "Sex and the City" inspired a cupcake craze, Crumbs was born. It all started in 2000 when character Carrie Bradshaw ate a cupcake from Magnolia Bakery's West Village location. Tourists began flocking there and a "Sex and the City" tour bus made the location a destination.

Why are gourmet cupcakes difficult to mass produce? ›

Explanation: Gourmet cupcakes are difficult to mass produce for several reasons. First, many baked goods, including cupcakes, rely on specific formulas and techniques that are challenging to scale up. Second, most cupcake bakeries depend on small batch production to maintain the quality and freshness of their products.

What is considered a gourmet cupcake? ›

There really is no standard definition of a gourmet cupcake. Anything edible that is described as gourmet is generally associated with fine food that's made with high-quality ingredients and looks fantastic. For cupcakes, gourmet indicates that they are created with care in small batches.

How old is the oldest cupcake? ›

Amelia Simmons invented the cupcake in 1796 when he wrote a recipe called “a light cake to bake in small cups” in her book named “American Cookery”.

Why did cupcakes fall? ›

Creaming the butter and the sugar is a very important step in getting a good rise on the cupcakes. However, if you beat too much, you will end up incorporating way too much air into the batter, and when the cupcakes bake, they will rise rapidly and then collapse.

Is cupcake a girl or boy? ›

Mr. Cupcake, also simply known as the Cupcake, is an anthropomorphic cupcake animatronic who is usually accompanied by Chica. He has pink-frosting with two large yellow eyes, a yellow-striped birthday candle with a vinyl candle-light, buck teeth, no wrapper, and black eyelids.

Why aren t cupcakes rising? ›

Flat cupcakes can happen for a few reasons. Expired or old leavening agents such as baking soda or baking powder can cause cupcakes to deflate, since the necessary chemical reactions to make the batter rise won't be able to take place.

When did cupcake 2048 come out? ›

2048 (video game)
2048
Developer(s)Gabriele Cirulli
Publisher(s)Solebon llc
Platform(s)Web browser, iOS, Nintendo 3DS, Android, Apple TV, KaiOS, Teslatari
ReleaseWeb: 9 March 2014
3 more rows

What is the history of 12 cupcakes? ›

Twelve Cupcakes is a Singapore based chain of cupcakery selling cupcakes. It was co-founded by Singaporean DJ Daniel Ong and actress Jamie Teo in 2011. It is currently owned by Dhunseri Group and is one of the largest cupcakery chain in Singapore.

What is the most cupcakes eaten in 30 seconds? ›

Gigi's Cupcakes USA - The world record for eating cupcakes in one sitting is 29 cupcakes in 30 seconds.

How to play the I Ready cupcake game? ›

The user must buy ingredients to design (a) cupcake(s). After designing and naming your cupcake(s), customers will come to your shop to order your cupcake. This is how you make money and you purchase ingredients with the money you earn. The more you play, the game gets harder.

Why are cupcakes not fluffy? ›

"Baking fluffy, moist cupcakes is all about creating air bubbles in your batter that expand in the oven," she says. "If you overmix your batter, you collapse those bubbles and end up with a brick-like cake." Always mix at a low speed to avoid this, stopping just as all ingredients blend.

Why are my cupcakes crispy? ›

Cupcakes with crunchy tops are because of your oven being too warm, baking with the thermofan, or the convection oven putting. It can be because you bake them for too lengthy, added an excessive amount of sugar, introduced too little leavening agent, or over-mixing the batter.

What was the cupcake craze? ›

In the third season of "Sex And The City," Carrie Bradshaw announced her crush on Aidan while munching on a Magnolia cupcake. The sight of the cupcake sparked a national obsession for gourmet cupcakes, specifically from Magnolia. To this day, Magnolia Bakery is a spot on the "Sex and the City" tour of New York City.

What are the cupcake girls doing now? ›

Today, The Cupcake Girls have two corporate and four franchised stores in the Metro Vancouver area. Their first Vancouver Island shop (also a franchise) will open this December in the island's largest shopping centre, the new Uptown.

What is the world's fanciest cupcake? ›

Behold "The Golden Phoenix." Hailed as the world's most expensive cupcake, the pricey dessert costs a whopping £645 ($1,000) at Dubai's Bloomsbury's Cupcakes. Served on a covered Villari 24-carat gold empire cake stand, the cupcake is adorned with edible gold and chocolate.

What is the most popular cupcake topping? ›

Powdered sugar.

Cupcakes are a popular dessert choice for many occasions, from birthday parties to office celebrations. And one of the most popular ways to top a cupcake is with powdered sugar.

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