The Crumbs craze
Mia Bauer i91 cofounded the largest US-based cupcake chain
It started a national cupcake craze. It has 35 company stores in six states, spanning the map from New York to California. It has over 50 varieties, ranging from the classic red velvet to key lime to margarita. It started as a neighborhood bakery and today is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. It has revolutionized the cupcake.
Founded in 2003 by Mia Bauer '91 and husband Jason Bauer, Crumbs is the largest U.S.-based cupcake retailer. The idea to start the business came as a kind of "revelation," according to Mia, who loved to bake as a kid. Feeling that her previous career as a lawyer was "naturally coming to an end," the two decided to go into business together because they felt there was "something [that] worked really great in our personal relationship that we thought would work really well in a business relationship," Mia said in an interview with the Justice. In a short 48-hour period of exploring a few ideas, the two decided to open a bakery.
"We [said], ‘Yeah, let's do it; because we were so confident we'd be able to put it together, and we just jumped in," Mia said, adding that if they had spent the time creating a proper business plan, they may never have done it.
In March 2003, the couple opened the doors of a small neighborhood bakery—the first Crumbs store—on the Upper West Side of Manhattan without any formal baking training. A full bakery with a wide variety of baked goods available, the couple decided to add a few cupcakes to the mix. Cupcakes were not a popular dessert at the time, but were a personal favorite for Mia which she would eat when she was a child.
"Up until we opened, people weren't seeking out cupcakes necessarily. Within a week of us opening our doors, we saw the demand for cupcakes was huge. … People were crazy for the cupcakes," Mia said.
Slowly adding cupcake flavors and varieties to their selection to keep up with the demand of their customers, the Crumbs cupcake craze only grew. "[Cupcakes] are such a nostalgic treat. ... They're the perfect individualized dessert, and they make people feel a certain way. … I think we've tapped into that feeling with people; it just makes people really happy to have a cupcake," Mia said.
The demand quickly turned the small neighborhood bakery into a national phenomenon, with stores popping up in Connecticut, Illinois, Virginia and Washington D.C. as well as 14 in New York City alone. Their revenue was $542,200 in 2003 and grew to $31.1 million in 2010. The Crumbs sales for 2011 are projected to be $40-45 million and to almost double in 2012, according to the company's website.
Starting at 1 inch in size and small enough to pop in your mouth, the Crumbs cupcakes are available as large as 6 1/2 inches high, which serve as many as eight people. Over 1 million cupcakes are sold each month to customers ranging from kids to businessmen, and Crumbs ships nationwide. The plan is to expand to 200 stores by 2014.
"I always tease Jason; I don't really know what was going on in his head [when we started]. … I thought we were just opening up a neighborhood bakery, but given where we were 7 years ago, 8 years ago, and where we are now, I have to believe that somewhere in his head that first week, [when] we had lines out the door, … his mind started going," she laughed.
A business major "since he was three," as Mia joked about her husband, with a degree in marketing and finance from Boston University and an entrepreneurial attitude, Jason possesses business skills that have been instrumental in making the company what is today. And while the Brandeis alumna, who studied Politics and holds a juris doctor from New York Law School, says she knew nothing about business when she started, today she is equally involved in the business end of Crumbs. This year, the couple was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year New York Award Winners, and both are listed on Forbes.com.
"Often in conversation or in interviews I get referred to as an entrepreneur, and I really kind of look to my left and my right and I'm like, ‘Who are you talking about?' she joked. Business-savvy as she has become, Mia still loves the "creative baking end" of owning Crumbs, making the two the ultimate partners. While she holds the title of chief creative officer, he is the chief executive officer.
"We're a very good balance. I'm at one end of the spectrum, and he's at the other, and we always meet in the middle," Mia said of working with her husband, calling Crumbs a love story. In touch throughout the day even when he's in the office and she's in the field, the couple still have Crumbs on their mind when they go home at night.
"We talk about business all night, too. And we enjoy it. I don't think either one of us see it as a chore," Mia said.
While the Crumbs business has become huge, becoming the first publicly traded cupcake chain, the Bauers work to maintain the neighborhood feel they started with back in 2003.
"It's one of, if not the most important component that our customers feel like it's their neighborhood bakery, no matter how many locations we have," Mia said. Always looking to keep its customers happy, Crumbs frequently adds new and uniquely flavored cupcakes to the mix, taking suggestions from employees and customers.
"I'm just inspired by everything. … You'll see a color or a movie or something so random can inspire a flavor or a look of a cupcake and that's always been the case for me. … I love talking to kids about what they want in a cupcake because there's no filter, which is what I want. The craziest idea they can come up with is the best," Mia said.
The old-fashioned chocolate and vanilla cupcakes have been joined by blackbottom cheesecake brownie, cookie dough, cappuccino and vanilla coconut, along with dozens more, as a result of the Bauers sheer creativity, savvy business skills and desire to keep their customers happy.
Their favorite flavors? "Jason's is definitely the hostess. I'm all over the map. For years it was raspberry swirl, more recently red velvet. I take for granted how many years I had to work to get that right," Mia said.
Raspberry swirl or red velvet, they've sent America into a cupcake coma.
Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Justice.