Cupcake Wars
In recent times it seems that cupcakes are experiencing an incredible boom in popularity, many large commercial bakeries and franchise chains have been quick to pick up on this trend, but just what is the cupcake revolution? And how did it come about?
Around ten years ago, the Magnolia Bakery was opened in Greenwich, by Allysa Torey and Jennifer Appel. Things were working out smoothly, no great surprises, a successful bakery for all accounts and purposes. Neither of the founders could have expected the incredible events that would transpire once their delicious cupcakes found themselves featured in an episode of Sex in the City. Almost overnight, a national trend was gathering momentum, and the Magnolia Bakery rocketed to fame, with success following quickly in its wake. The Magnolia Bakery was forced to take sweeping steps to solve its supply and demand problems, queues formed in the street with would-be cupcake consumers waiting eagerly to purchase this delightful, and now TV endorsed food. Eventually, The Magnolia Bakery was forced to introduce restrictions upon the number of cupcakes each individual could purchase at a time, and the cupcake revolution was in full swing.
Following these heady days of cupcake mania, in 2000, Jennifer Appel decided to leave The Magnolia Bakery and start out on her own, with the brand new Buttercup Bakery. Let us not forget that by this time, cupcakes were big business, industry figures were beginning to emerge which showed that cupcakes were fast becoming the nations favorite snack food. This new event in the history of cupcakes was the herald to a new and incredibly intriguing chapter of the cupcake story, a chapter that has come to be known as “cupcake wars”. The national press were quick to elevate these commercial squabbles, and the nation sat captivated as a full on turf war developed.
The inevitable rise in competition between existing bakeries and enterprising new players in the market lead to an on-going series of legal battles, as business entities fought it out for their slice of the cupcake pie. There has been a significant quantity of very public lawsuits, several broken friendships and a whole mountain of both positive and negative press which pertains to these particularly messy confrontations.
As with any evolving market, existing players were forced to do battle with new pretenders in an effort to retain their turf. Many news sources have been quick to take up the analogy of a mafia gang war, as it seemed at times that rival bakeries were willing to go to any lengths to ensure their control of the local cupcake market was absolute. Eventually the whole sticky mess has slowly resolved itself, and there has been a huge uptrend in the amount of bakeries, both large and small, which are enjoying the benefits of the current popularity of the humble cupcake.
Current industry figures would seem to support the view of analysts by underpinning the fact that cupcakes are if anything, more popular today than they have been at any other time. In a market that has seen an immense of growth within the past ten years, it is incredible to realize that there are still plenty of opportunities to establish a successful and profitable cupcake bakery. Many neighborhoods do not have local access to a quality cupcake bakery. What we have here before us is a product that is in greater demand than its supply, if we consider this fact, it is clear to see that the cupcake is indeed a sweet proposition.
