Twitter may last. Pet rocks did not. But the cupcake ”“ that mainstay of solitary pleasures ”“ is a proven pillar of life people cannot do without, regardless of the epoch.
Mia and Jason Bauer have opened the second and third Fairfield County locations, in Westport and New Canaan, of their 22-store boutique bakeshop business, Crumbs.
The first location in Fairfield County was in Stamford. Jason said the addition of Westport and New Canaan would cater to a more village-style, foot-traffic centered demographic.
“We had been in New York City for a number of years and constantly would get bombarded by families and customers asking us to come to Fairfield,” said Jason. “They said there”™s nothing like it. We realized that that was true: There”™s nothing like what we do here. Forget the cupcakes, it was rare that you”™d find a full service bakery in some of these towns any longer.”
The couple began the business six years ago.
“Our first location was on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on 75th and Amsterdam,” said Jason. “From the day we opened, we had lines and the lines never ended and never went away. We decided to keep opening up more, the second one, then the third one, and the fourth one and now we”™re up to 22.”
Jason and Mia have kept the business privately owned, without any franchising.
“It”™s really just a big family-owned business,” said Lisa Siggia, manager of the recently opened Westport location.
Jason said by working with a staff of directors, he and his wife have been able to expand quickly without losing their input into the business. All the products sold in the shops are baked everyday at the company”™s Long Island City location. There are Crumbs locations in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and California.
“We manage through our infrastructure using our employees versus the franchise model,” said Jason.
Mia said that until October 2008 the bakery”™s business was growing at a rate of 40 percent same-store-sales over the previous year.
“From that point until now it”™s leveled out as to where our same-store sales are up around 20 or 25 percent,” said Jason. “We”™re still growing significantly even in this economy I think because our product is an affordable luxury. You can still by a six pack of cupcakes from Crumbs and spend 20 bucks and bring them home to your family but you”™re not going to be spending $200 on going out to dinner.
Jason also recognized that baked pastries are present when people are celebrating and when they are down on their luck.
The stores offer 32 separate cupcakes, all about the size of a softball, as well as cookies, brownies, muffins, cakes and scones and a catering option.
“It”™s definitely more of an experience than eating a regular cupcake,” said Jason.
The Bauer”™s said their employees come mostly from local high school kids and managers are often stay-at-home moms who are looking to get back into the working world.
“I think we attract a very specific kind of person,” said Mia. “These people enjoy making others happy.”
Westchester County is in their scouting report and is at the top of the prospect list for future locations, though first a Greenwich location is slated to open by the end of the year.
“We typically go where there are lots of people,” said Jason. “Even though we”™ve become a destination, it”™s always great to take advantage of the foot traffic of people walking by and trying our product for the first time.”
