Fewer cupcakes

My wife just got back from walking up to Carmen's Cupcakes 1401 Bardstown Road. She says they are closed and the shelves are bare.

sad, but not suprising, imo. i just can't imagine too many places staying afloat just by selling cup cakes. the fact tha I'm not a fan of cup cakes in no way influences my opinion on this matter.

Yeah, She hasn't been open in over a month. I have been expanding on different things we sell to try to target a wider clientel. I think the name CUPCAKES turns some people off, but if you called yourself a sweet shop it would be different. It is hard for me to compare my sales to anything else because I opened in the fall, right before winter and am a brand new business, so it's hard for me to say if we are right on target for what is to be expected or if we are doing better or worse than what we should be, but we have steady regulars, have been getting alot of referrals form other people and I can see a slow building of new customers that are telling us they love us and will be back, It has been hard but I didn't really expect any less. Everybody has told me my first year will be the hardest and I hope they are right

My wife just got back from walking up to Carmen's Cupcakes 1401 Bardstown Road. She says they are closed and the shelves are bare.

Is this the spot next to the new Highland's Cleaners where the old car wash used to be?

My wife just got back from walking up to Carmen's Cupcakes 1401 Bardstown Road. She says they are closed and the shelves are bare.

Is this the spot next to the new Highland's Cleaners where the old car wash used to be?

Yes.

My wife just got back from walking up to Carmen's Cupcakes 1401 Bardstown Road. She says they are closed and the shelves are bare.

Is this the spot next to the new Highland's Cleaners where the old car wash used to be?

Yes.

Wow. That was fast.

From what I understand, business may have been TOO good and she just didn't want the extra work load of keeping another store stocked and staffed........

From what I understand, business may have been TOO good and she just didn't want the extra work load of keeping another store stocked and staffed........

Wow, never heard of anything like that before. It's a pretty big investment to then throw in the towel because you are too busy!

Not really. Some people with more means than you or I think it's sounds like a great idea to open a foodservice operation until they realize there is actually hard, time consuming work that is involved with running a successful single operation. Much less two locations.
Outside of the lease,(which may have been month to month) I didn't see any great investment in equipment at that location the couple of times we patronized the place when it was open. Besides that's pretty good haul and considerable time suck from Nortons Commons to the Highlands to keep that location stocked up yourself without taking on the expense of hiring someone or purchasing a vehicle dedicated to keeping up with it once or twice a day.

Personally, I think it's a smart move on her part.
One of the other reasons restaurants fail is that they try to expand too quickly without taking into consideration how it will affect the original location, by not having thought through all of the issues of consistancy, staffing, supply and having a strong, well trained management team in place well before opening another location. We see happen it all the time.

Not really. Some people with more means than you or I think it's sounds like a great idea to open a foodservice operation until they realize there is actually hard, time consuming work that is involved with running a successful one. Outside of the lease,(which may have been month to month) I didn't see any great investment in equipment at that location the couple of times we patronized the place when it was open.

I don't care how much money one has, wasting it is not a smart thing. So if the assumption is that whoever owned this place has endless funding and they are making money hand over fist at this location, why not invest in the labor to keep it running?

I'm not saying what you said about why they closed is not true but if it is it doesn't make any sense. If a business has value it can be sold for a profit instead of closed. If they have a 5 year lease on that space, which is typical, they are going to be responsible for the remainder of the lease. $1500/mo for 60 month's (just a guess) is a lot of money to throw away because your "too" busy.

I live a half block away and go by there all the time. Ever since its opening, it seemed like a ghost town in that space and the counter person looked bored.

I live a half block away and go by there all the time. Ever since its opening, it seemed like a ghost town in that space and the counter person looked bored.

Interesting and believable since they closed.

Just tacking this on an older thread.... not worth a new one.

Designer marshmellows.... they're the new cupcake.

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2012 ... c_c=177601