Crumbs Bake Shop Closing Its Doors

Co-signed.

 

They were amazing cupcakes, but, yes, expensive. Not sure how a cupcake can be too large.

 

The one time I had Crumbs (could have been an off-day), it was an OK cupcake topped with several inches of icing. Tough to eat and tasted like one big mound of overpriced sugar. I've never gone back and never felt I was missing anything.

I'm more interested in the pending sale of the Portillo's restaurant group for $1 billion, with the hint of expansion in the air. If they can keep the same quality they have in Chicago and radically expand their footprint, that could be a game-changer. And seeing how much their average site does in sales annually, compared to similar restaurants, $1 billion could be a bargain.

 

Georgetown Cupcake in DC isn't quite that expensive, but at $3 apiece, it ain't cheap. Yet, it looks like this all the time:

 

Portillo's chocolate cake > cupcakes.

 

Definitely. As well as the chocolate cake shake.

 

Another pie guy here.

I've never been that big on cakes, including cupcakes. But once or twice a year when I'm at the local bakery for a morning doughnut, I pick up a cupcake for later in the day. I think it cost 80 cents the last time I bought one. I don't get these cupcake shops.

Does anyone else have a Gigi's Cupcakes around? They seem to be popping up everywhere. There's been one near where I work for a couple years, but I've never been there.

 

Cupcake chains probably get pinched on both ends, by supermarkets and larger bakeries that offer more menu items, as well as mom-and-pop places that got in on the ground floor of the craze. As such, there was never an overarching national chain akin to Cinnabon for cinnamon rolls, though it seems like they're more interested in leveraging their brand in other products, like cereal and vodka.

 

To compete these days in the gourmet cupcake business, a place also has to provide scoops on NBA free agency.

 

There's one near me. The cupcakes are pretty good. I think they cost $3.50 apiece, or three for $10. It's expensive, but a good little treat on occasion like an ice cream cone.
Gigi's also has different cakes every day, which might help their business model. You can't just walk in and get a strawberry cupcake. They only make those on Tuesdays. Chocolate is only on Thursday. And so on. They also have seasonal menus to keep things fresh.

 

A repeat of the Krispy Kreme story.

 

We have a "Cupcake Wars" winner in town and my God those women think they are King Queen Shit.
My wife and I go there every once in a while, but it's not worth the hype really.