Saturday, December 12, 2009

What Makes A Cupcake Even Better?

In the case of the Cupcake Gallery, let us count the ways...

- scaffolding is coming down next week gone - FINALLY

- free wi-fi with purchase, starting next week

- coffee and tea served daily

We hope all the Truman students who can't get a table at Starbucks start bringing their laptops a couple blocks west. (But they better leave some red velvet cupcakes for us!)

7 comments:

  1. And let's not forget the coupons they put on the cars that looked like tickets :-) lol... pissed me off royally until I READ it. hah!

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  2. Grace - LOTS of small business put all kinds of "stuff" on windshield wipers to drum up business. And hey - you READ it, right? So it WORKED for them! Capitalism at its best!

    Luv those cupcakes! Support your local bakers?

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  3. Let's count the ways in which the Cupcake Gallery really isn't all that great--cupcakes look like the ones I can make at home out of a box, they are smallish without any artistry/innovation of design (check out a place like Bliss for how proper cupcake places do it), they are served in random plastic bags (check out 7th Heaven for how cupcakes should be served to go--in individual cupcake holders), the paper is again straight out of Jewel, the atmosphere of the store is drab/dank with minimal decoration and just trays of cupcakes on stainless steel shelves. Seriously, I would love to support a local store like this and wanted to like it but I'm not going to support a store just because it's local. And please don't tell me they just need to get the scaffolding down and everything will be okay--the problems go much deeper (heck, they start right with the poor product itself). Sorry to rain on the local parade here but Uptown needs better.

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  4. I share Bryan's disappointment with Cupcake Gallery. I was excited to go there for the first time last weekend. It was not a good first impression:

    - I wasn't immediately greeted upon walking in the door, though there were two women in plain sight and the place is tiny.

    - I started looking at the white board listing the flavors, then was told it hadn't yet been updated. Wouldn't you update the flavors before opening for the day?

    - There was a man in a closet-sized office on the phone, who reached his hand out the door, like Thing from the Addams Family, to close it. Would it really have been so hard to stand up to reach the extra six inches to open the door? He looked annoyed. A smile would have been nice.

    - The overall appearance was a little unsanitary. I was surpised to see the cupcakes on wire racks in open air instead of inside an airtight display case. This was particularly disturbing since there was plastic only halfway covering the opening to the construction next door.

    - The cupcakes were surprisingly small and pricey for their size. It's hard for me to justify $2.50 for a tiny cupcake here, when I know I can get a substantial and delicious one at Sensational Bites on Southport for less than $2. In addition, they tasted just OK.

    The cupcake bakery idea is far from new, and with so many bakeries doing this so well in the city, Cupcake Gallery really needs to step up their game. I try to support small, local businesses and will try this one again in a couple months, once they've had more time to improve. Like others, I want Uptown to be home to strong local businesses, so I hope Cupcake Gallery will take these comments to heart.

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  5. DECEMBER 15 is NATIONAL CUPCAKE DAY! One more reason/excuse to pack on the calories and support your local businesses!

    Regarding some previous posts - I wonder if at least some of these issues are matters for the local inspectors.

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  6. Hey Bryan & Karen - we were making improvements to our space. Opening a business in the middle of a recession isn't the easiest thing in the world. Let us make it up to you. Come back to our bakery and I'll give you guys a free cupcake and beverage of your choice...the construction on the inside and outside is done - so it should look slightly more appealing to the eye on the inside of our store.

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