The pandemic accelerated the push to think beyond the brick-and-mortar bakery for other ways to reach cupcake consumers. Then as now, the reliable grocery store is top of mind.
Industry leaders Crumbs Bake Shop and Magnolia Bakery are beginning to sell their products in grocery stores. Crumbs cookies hit the shelves of select New York City grocers in late 2022. Now the bakery’s cupcakes are stocked at a growing number of grocery stores in the New York area, with plans for national sales in hundreds of stores.
Crumbs owners Jason and Mia Bauer sampled cupcakes and cookies at the March 26 grand opening of a new ShopRite store in the New York City suburb of Elmsford.
New York City fans of Crumbs have three new places to buy cupcakes: all Gristedes markets, all D’Aagostino markets, and the Gopuff app for local delivery.
Magnolia announced its first foray into supermarket sales. Packaged banana pudding cookies are making their way to Harris Teeter and Fresh Market stores, as well as Amazon. According to media reports, Magnolia conducted a study in which 70% percent of respondents said they’d prefer supermarket sales over the opening of new bakery locations.
In the beginning of this modern cupcake moment, cupcakes emerged as pop-culture figures unto themselves. Like it-girl actresses, the most popular brands were associated with fashionable boutiques and glamourous lifestyles seen in magazines. Retailing in everyday grocery stores brings the brands down to earth and makes them accessible to the mass market.
Update: “Why the future of restaurants runs through the grocery store” provides context for the bakeries’ interest in pre-packaged goods.
Andrea Adleman | Cupcakologist 