$47M cupcake operation that rose from lawyer's mom-and-pop shop has crumbled
Once a mom-and-pop Manhattan shop founded by a lawyer and her spouse, a $47 million cupcake operation has crumbled, only three years after going public.
Crumbs announced Monday that its 48 stores located in 10 states would be closing at the end of the day, reports the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.). It appears that over-saturation of the market for luxury cupcakes is behind the store closings.
Established in 2003 by New York attorney Mia Bauer and her husband, Jason, the cupcake shop was the biggest of a number of such bakeries, several of them operated by lawyers. The trend of eating large, calorie-laden baked treats selling for nearly $4 each took off after a Sex and the City character ate a cupcake from another Manhattan bakery on the television program in 2000, reports Business Insider.
The extent of the Bauers’ ownership interest in the cupcake operation after it went public isn’t clear from news coverage. A Bloomberg biography lists positions the New York Law School graduate has held with Crumbs.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Despite Seeming Sweet Success, Law Grad Has Closed His Mobile Cupcake Business”
Jewish Week: “The Princess of Cupcakes”
Los Angeles Confidential: “Jason and Mia Bauer Bring Crumbs to LA”
