Two words. The first word is cupcake. The second is truck. Started by a recently graduated New York Law School student who realized he wasn’t getting a job this year, Cupcakestop will be scooting around Manhattan, serving up treats like red velvet, oreo crumb, and black and white cookie. $1 for minis, $2.25 for regular size. I think they’re going to be Twittering their location at each stop, too. Innovation in the recession. Tasty.
Taking cupcakes to the streett [Crain's New York via Cupcake Takes The Cake] (Thanks to c-side!)
More From Consumerist
-
Is The Gilded Age Of Cupcakes Finally Ending?
-
Are Retail Trucks The Next Wave Of Shopping?
-
Hollywood Star Acer Commercials Push Ultrabooks, Challenge Gender Norms
-
Oscar Mayer Figures Serving Up A PR Stunt With Bacon Will Get The Public To Bite
-
"Who's Your Daddy?" DNA Testing Truck Aims To Answer One Of Life's Trickiest Question
Heh, I read the headline and thought a cupcake truck had gotten into an accident. I was imagining cupcakes strewn about the street.
@Skunky: It’s horrible! You should see the carnage! Chocolate fudge everywhere! There’s a dozen lying next to a car, icing is everywhere, just dripping…oh God, it’s everywhere!
/has been drinking diet coke and coffee this morning.
@pecan 3.14159265: You sure you would want a cupcake off the ground in Manhattan? Haha
@morgasco: Fudge Sludge, Streetberry and Sewage Sprinkle are regional hits in the streets of Brooklyn.
@Preyfar: “Streetberry” is an awesome name for a tabletop rpg character…
awww, why didn’t I think of this? It sounds like a good idea.
@CandyRaver:
I think they did it on the most recent “The Apprentice” with The Donald. Not exactly original, but if they are able to turn a decent profit selling cupcakes, more power to them.
@CandyRaver: You must not watch enough Travel Channel food shows or read the NY Times. Desert trucks have been popular for a while, though I don’t know one specializing in cupcakes. Others have creme brulee and all sorts of fancy whatnots.
@KyleOrton: There is a cupcake truck in Austin that does quite well.
@Canino:
There are several very successful cupcake bakeries in my (mid-size, very untrendy) city. They make a quality product that people enjoy and are willing to pay for. Good on ‘em, I say.
@KyleOrton: I never heard of this either. *shrug*
@KyleOrton: Yeah — I love the Dessert Truck, and I stopped at a gourmet ice cream truck last week. I also patronized a truck with a variety of baked goods once…but I haven’t heard of any other Cupcake Truck. Sounds like a good addition to the landscape.
yep, i am going to become even more obese when i get back to new york.
i suspect it will be delicious. i love cupcakes.
I found out recently by reading another board I frequent that there are, apparently, about 12 independent cupcake businesses in my area. Storefronts that sell just cupcakes.
I think it’s just a stupid fad with demand manufactured by a desire to see something different and the fact that the business owner is known by the customer through PTA or church or some such. I don’t see any of them succeeding long term. I mean, does anyone really ever think to themselves, “Man, I could go for a really great cupcake about now.”?
@Canino: …Well now I could go for a really great cupcake.
@Canino: I have those types of thoughts at least three times a week and it is only by my sometimes-faltering desire to not be a fatass that I can resist them.
@Canino: *raises hand sheepishly*
@Canino: Yes, as a mater of fact, I do.
@Canino: [www.sweetavenuebakeshop.com] is close to where I live. They’ve been open about two years, and seem to be doing well. I’m not even vegan and I love their cupcakes! They’re expensive, but they’re good for a special occasion, like a potluck at work, or a friend’s birthday gathering. I understand a lot of their business comes from weddings, vegan or otherwise. Cupcakes are great because there’s less cleanup and it’s easy to mix and match flavors. Wow I sound like a cupcake pimp or something. I really could go for a great cupcake about now…
@StitchPirate: I can understand why someone would think this is lame but I have to say having recently gone on a cupcake quest in NYC Amy’s Bakery, Billy’s Bakery and Magnolia all make great cupcakes even if the wait is still pretty crazy. It’s a cheap treat and sure beats waiting in line to see the latest lame ass movie that just came out.
@Canino: Oh ye of little faith – Within a 10 block radius of my apartment, there there are 4 cupcake bakeries… they make bank. Two of them are expansion stores of local chains.
@Canino: I usually think “man I could go for some cake” but buying/making a whole cake is unreasonable so I go for a cupcake. Also good on birthdays, since there are only two of us a whole cake would go to waste
@edwardso: more likely, we’d eat a whole cake
@Canino: I, in fact, could totally go for a great cupcake right now. I could go for like six of them. And the ones I get at indie cupcake stores are way, WAY better than what you’d get at a supermarket bakery. In fact, there’s a CakeLove I can see from my office window. I exert a TON of willpower in not going for a cupcake daily.
@Etoiles: I only go to cakelove if I make myself walk there.
@edwardso: It’s literally across the street from my office. Maybe 50 yards? So walking doesn’t help me, haha.
Well, I guess I’m just out of the (apparently popular and delicious) cupcake loop.
@Canino: I, personally, am with you in the lack of cupcake lust, though I can not say the same about my girlfriend. Probably about once a week I hear the line “Mmmm cupcakes” uttered in some context.
@Canino:
No, I think you’re right actually.
I haven’t actually seen any cupcake specific places, but I’ve started to read about them or hear about them in different places. My initial reaction was similar to yours: WTF, how is that a sustainable business model?
The other night I was watching Food Network and Good Eats came on about this very thing. Alton highly encourages you to make your own cupcakes.
@trujunglist: I went to a cupcake store in Dallas (well, actually I stayed outside and smoked while the others went in- bad, I know) and, while they had interesting flavors, they weren’t especially pretty, and they were ridiculously expensive. Alton is right. I’d rather bake my own.
@Canino: Well, it seemed to work for Mrs. Fields.
@Canino: I think that all the time. I have no trouble passing up cookies, brownies, or ice cream, but I thank my lucky stars that the cupcake fad hasn’t reached the suburb where I work. The day it does I’m in trouble.
@Canino: You are correct, cupcakes are a fad. Actually, it might be more correct to say that they are trendy. I personally think that we’re on the trailing end of it. The ultra-trendy have already declared them “over”, and they’ve reached the level of ubiquity where they’re no longer cool.
I am not a cool or trendy person, BTW. This is just the common pattern I’ve seen over and over with stuff like this. See Krispy Creme donuts for example. In addition, cupcakes have been around for a long time, yet everyone’s been excited about them for the past couple of years, and there’s been an explosion in bakeries that sell them. You have to be a bit foolish to think that’s sustainable.
Whether or not it’s stupid is up for debate. I think a lot of people are way too into it just because it IS trendy. Sprinkles, for example, has about as many terrible cupcakes as it does excellent ones.
But anyway, I personally love pastries, so anything that means more cake in my gullet is A-OK by me.
@Canino: I think that a lot, yeah.
Good for him, but there’s a serious mistake in your article. You said NYU-law student; he went to “New York Law School,” which is a pretty low-ranked area law school. Mistaking the two is like mistaking Harvard for Engelton Tech.
@nonpareil: Or mistaking Oxford for Yale, amirite?
@karmaghost: @Radi0logy: As I said, good for him (and I am a true lover of cupcakes), but it’s a serious mistake and sloppy reporting. For an attorney + someone seriously neurotic about precision in writing, I thought it should be pointed out. I understand if it seems trivial (particularly to non-attorneys), but confusing the two law schools (neither of which I attended) would seriously irk NYU Law grads.
@nonpareil: you Tier 1 law schoolers need to get a hobby.
@Skankingmike: Also…true.
@nonpareil: I like you. You have a sense of humour.
@nonpareil: I know because my wife gets offended by others not recognizing her school as Tier 1 (Uconn Law) which it’s ranked 40′th currently (38 when she got in 2002)
I think it’s the fact that we’re in NJ and they think Rutgers and Seaton Hall is Tier 1.
It’s all good though.
@nonpareil: “For an attorney + someone seriously neurotic about precision in writing…”
Your use of word math belies your self-diagnosed neurosis.
@Gtmac…and sometimes y: This is true.
@nonpareil:
I have found that law students are the most obsessed w/ school rankings out of any group of professional/graduate students that I know of…
@cc82: People who go to law school generally have low self esteem and need validation from outside sources. Rankings give them validation. So does holding a class hostage while they volunteer incessantly and spend 20 minutes outlining their views on the rule against perpetuities.
(I can say that because I graduated from law school, even though I do not know the precise ranking of my alma mater)
@saralegal21: CAN WE NOT TALK ABOUT THE RULE AGAINST PERPETUITIES?!
@nonpareil: Yeah, thats a serious mistake. Throws the legitimacy of the whole article out the window!
@nonpareil: if it helps, a lot of nyu grads are having trouble finding jobs, too. but nobody is having a tougher time than seton hall law grads. plus, who’s going to buy a cupcake from a truck in newark?
@iamdmann: This made me think of some shady guy at the end of an alley with his car trunk popped… “Psst… Hey, man, wanna buy some cupcakes? Primo shit!”
At least it’s better than the side-of-the-road fresh fish truck near me (with hand-lettered, horribly misspelled signs, and the truck doesn’t look like it’s refrigerated).
Gourmet designer cupcakes are the new “in” thing. Add NYC, a colorful truck, and a down-on-his-luck law school graduate— not to mention Twitter— and you’ve got a recipe for success…. at least until the next fad comes along.
@SteveBMD: Makes sense to me. Cupcakes are easy to make as far as desserts go, there’s low overhead, and they’re easy to eat on the go.
@SteveBMD:
A new “thing”? I have been reading about the this cupcake fad in NYC for around a year now. I even got a kick out of a New Yorker claiming it was now a nationwide fad because it’s so popular in NYC. Of course this person was quickly brought back to Earth, as that is far from the truth.
Not that it’s a bad fad. I like cup cakes a lot, and would love to have a cup cake truck in my area, but first things first. I’m still working on getting a Taco truck. Right now all we have is the ice cream man, and the roach coaches(which only hit up construction sites).
I guess they’re mimicking Kogi BBQ and Let’s Be Frank.
I wish them well, sounds like a neat idea. The Twittering is also pretty cool, they should throw in some sort of GPS map, too. Shouldn’t be too hard with today’s cell phones.
@karmaghost: Oops, sorry, I didn’t see your post until I had already submitted mine with essentially the same idea!
Cupcakes are so 2008…
[cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com]
That extra $.25 for the large is going to become a huge pain really fast. AWESOME idea tho.
@icantreplyright: It worked for the movie industry where you pay $4.25 for a small bag of popcorn, $4.50 for medium and $4.75 for large. You get gouged on the small, but hey, for .50 cents more, get a bag o’ corn as big as your torso!
@Preyfar: But the large comes with unlimited refills!!! That is, if you can eat more than one potato sack full of popcorn during a 1 1/2 hour flick…
@docrice: If I bought a large I’d get the freakin’ bucket refilled on my way out, just on principle. Take it home with me, and have it the next day.
If I’m going to spend a payceck on a single bucket of popcorn I’m getting my money’s worth!
Man I want a freaken cupcake now.
Hey Cupcake Man, In addition to twittering, if you will be roaming the streets like the suburbia Ice Cream Man, use a GPS transmitter, or something like Google Latitude so that people can actually see where you are and rush out to the street to buy a cupcake.
You also have to find a way to push the cupcake scent out of your truck so that people will be enticed to buy a cupcake.
Cool Idea, I wish you the best.
Entrepreneurship at it’s finest. I wish they succeed with their endeavor. Just don’t succeed too much, because then they will be evil.
@HiPwr: Heh. Like that evil clown who sells Big Macs.
Commences trying to turn this apple into a cupcake with my mind
@picardia: I want this truck to visit my neighborhood instead of the cheesy ice cream guy. I would totally shove neighborhood kids out of the way for a cupcake.
@CFinWV: cheesy ice cream
I’ll have a mozzarella cone.
If we had run this on Monday, I would have spent all of yesterday stalking the truck around the city. To ask for franchise rights.
The cupcake fad has officially jumped the shark.
@Troy F.: I think they jumped the shark with this lovely piece of jewelry. I know if I ever kidnapped a gi– er, found a wife, I would offer this for my engagement.
@Canino: Yeah, cupcakes are just a fad. Because this book hasn’t been selling like hot(cup)cakes for the last, oh, 2 and a half years.
And that’s just one part of the lucrative, sweet and delicious cupcake market.
How long before Bloomberg throws this guy into prison for peddling sugar and fat to the stupid masses?
Sorry, I only recognize the existence of the New Haven-based Cupcake Truck.
@drjayphd: frosting shot? planning a trip to new haven
Do they also have Free Candy?
My new goal: FIND THIS TRUCK.
@picardia: Great Heath, what will you do when you finally catch it?
My weakness. Time for a near miss with diabetes.
@Canino: But they travel so well!
Not to mention the stackable cuppin’cake trays..
I don’t have either of the above, but Sweet Mother of Frosting I wish I did!
@Canino: in newark, delaware, we have a cupcake shop called sweet n sassy cupcakes. newark is a college town, so pretty often the letters in “sassy” get scratched off of the window decals so the name of the store reads “sweet ass cupcakes”…haha.
but! they sell cupcakes, high-end party supplies, and SEX TOYS. how could you go wrong with a business model like that?
*cue up the King Missile classic “Cheesecake Truck”*
“They were very delicious cupcakes…”
There is a Taco Truck In L.A. who use Twitter to broadcast their location
@Michael G: Correction: there is a Korean taco-esque truck that uses Twitter to broadcast their location.
@Michael G: @rockasocky: You guys beat me to it. I have friends who’ve gone to it and told me about the Twitter angle.
Is Twitter now like dangling a carrot??
Pretty cool, but nothing particularly new. The Treats Truck has been zooming around the City for some time now, making sure we all get our sugar fix.
[www.treatstruck.com]
Kudos to the entrepreneurial spirit.
@ReverseCarpetbagging: I love the Treats Truck.
@ReverseCarpetbagging: I did a writeup for the Treats Truck when it first started up and I got to sample the stuff. It’s pretty awesome!
What are the rules governing food trucks? I ask because I hear a lot about them in NYC and other places. Some get rave reviews, but also lots of places get shut down. I assume you can get a permit to sell at a particular location and there are rules about safety and such. What about these traveling trucks?
@lilyHaze: I think NYC at least restricts them from parking and blaring music, unlike my local govt
@morlo: I wish mine did the same; there’s an ice cream van that parks in the apartment complex two blocks over and stays there.
All. Day. Long.
Ten in the morning until nine at night.Playing the same twinkly music over and over. If it sold cupcakes instead of being a not-that-well-concealed front for selling drugs, I might have a little less rage over it.
@lilyHaze: I imagine it’s the same as a brick and morter place. When I did concessions out of a mobile vehicle in Colorado the rules were pretty much the same, most regulations were about heating and refrigeration.
The original one drives around New Haven, Conn. and the cupcakes are DELICIOUS. Here’s to good old-fashioned ingenuity.
Red velvet cupcakes???
OH YEAH. I’d be chasing this truck DOWN.
Until they stock Ron Bennington’s cupcake, it’s just a rube wagon.
Well, I’m all for mobile baked goods but the whole fad of cupcakes has gotten out of control. Used to be you could find really excellent bakeries. Now, these stupid cupcake stores are cropping up all over. Cupcakes require little to no talent to make. Feh!
As a recent graduate of law school without a job (but, a love of baking), I might just need to invest in a cupcake truck. Unless, someone in Atlanta is hiring?
Didn’t they just do this on the Celebrity Apprentice?
Recessions are bad. The upside is that it spurs innovative people to do something different. The recession of the early 90′s put loads of tech guys out of work. In the end, however, it helped to spawn the dot com boom. I’m looking forward to seeing the innovations and the next Starbuck like long term fad.
These guys can succeed if they advance their product lines, if they have something for when cupcake sales nose dive.
I commute from CT to NY and there is a little mobile cupcake truck in New Haven that hands down beats anything in the tri state area I’ve tasted so far….. especially their hummingbird. Oh yeah, they’ve been doing this way before celebrity apprentice. come to think of it they may be the first ‘mobile’ truck to ever just bake and sell cupcakes exclusively.