instore - September 2016 - 36
merchandising
ON DISPLAY
Resurrecting cupcakes
Creative Cakes of Chicago still sells
as many cupcakes now as they did
at the height of their popularity.
This is the dilemma of cupcakes within the bakery bubble. They're
still a staple item on the perimeter of the supermarket, but the heyday
of Pinterest-perfect cupcakes is now long over, and if anything, it's
left some consumer disappointment and lagging sales in its wake. So
what is a retailer to do when it comes to perking up sales? To get to the
bottom of that, we spoke with Beth Fahey, owner of Chicago's Creative
Cakes and a speaker at this year's International Baking Industry
Exposition in Las Vegas. Merchandising cupcakes as an independent
baker has revealed the key for supermarkets to bring in higher sales for
their own departments, she says, and it all comes down to one thing:
what your list of ingredients does and does not contain.
Fahey and her sister Becky Palermo bought Chicago's Creative Cakes
in 2002, reopening it under their own banner right as the wave of
renewed interest in the product began. "We saw the beginning of the
cupcake craze," she recalls, "so we picked up on it and rode it a little
bit. We started out doing just custom cakes made to order, but now
we've extended our bakery line to include miniature pastries, cookies,
cupcakes, and display cakes to go, as well as adding a cafe about two
years ago."
Since then, she says, merchandising their cupcakes has never been
much different from merchandising their other confections. You'd
think that cupcake sales would've taken a dive after they hit their peak
36 * SEPTEMBER 2016 * instore
At the end of the day Creative Cakes pushes their sales by exploiting
their ingredients - real butter in their buttercream icing, namebrand candy on top - because customers now put a premium on
GORULKO ANDRII / ADOBE STOCK
When a single product goes through a cultural fad and revival, what is a
retailer to do with said item after the parade is over, the confetti fallen,
and the crowd gone home?
That's something that not
everyone in the industry can
say. Cupcakes make up about
20 percent of Creative Cakes'
revenue, with wedding and
custom cakes filling the bulk at
60 percent and the remaining 20 percent coming from the cafe. So how
have the sisters been able to maintain those sales, and what can bigger
operations learn from them?
BETH FAHEY
in popularity, she says, but sales
of them for Creative Cakes have
never floundered. "We sell at least
3,000 cupcakes a week, and have
two shelves completely devoted
to them in our 6-foot cold case,"
she says. "I'm always surprised
that even after the cupcake
bubble burst a couple years
ago, we're still doing as many
cupcakes as we were."
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of instore - September 2016
instore - September 2016
Editor's Note - Teamwork: Natural partnerships
Table of Contents
News - On our radar
Spotlight - By the numbers: Deli soups
Cover story - Let's work together
Product Correlation Strategies
Commissary Insider - September 2016
Insight Insider - Freshway Foods
Food Safety - FSMA's Sanitary Transportation Rule
Equipment - Making conveyors fit
Product Category Spotlight - Prepared deli side dishes and salads
Technology - Luminometer monitoring
Research and development - Functional ingredients for nutrition fortification
Preview - What's in store at IBIE?
Feature - Bringing the heat
Specialty Insights - Consider: Yogurt parfaits
Equipment & Packaging - Latest innovation: Packaging
Product Knowledge - Need to know: Waffles on the go
Merchandising - On display: Resurrecting cupcakes
Product Trends - First to Market
Product Showcase
Ad Index
instore - September 2016 - instore - September 2016
instore - September 2016 - 2
instore - September 2016 - Editor's Note - Teamwork: Natural partnerships
instore - September 2016 - 4
instore - September 2016 - 5
instore - September 2016 - Table of Contents
instore - September 2016 - 7
instore - September 2016 - News - On our radar
instore - September 2016 - 9
instore - September 2016 - Spotlight - By the numbers: Deli soups
instore - September 2016 - 11
instore - September 2016 - Cover story - Let's work together
instore - September 2016 - 13
instore - September 2016 - 14
instore - September 2016 - Product Correlation Strategies
instore - September 2016 - 16
instore - September 2016 - 17
instore - September 2016 - Insight Insider - Freshway Foods
instore - September 2016 - CI2
instore - September 2016 - CI3
instore - September 2016 - CI4
instore - September 2016 - CI5
instore - September 2016 - Food Safety - FSMA's Sanitary Transportation Rule
instore - September 2016 - CI7
instore - September 2016 - CI8
instore - September 2016 - CI9
instore - September 2016 - CI10
instore - September 2016 - CI11
instore - September 2016 - Equipment - Making conveyors fit
instore - September 2016 - CI13
instore - September 2016 - Product Category Spotlight - Prepared deli side dishes and salads
instore - September 2016 - CI15
instore - September 2016 - Technology - Luminometer monitoring
instore - September 2016 - CI17
instore - September 2016 - CI18
instore - September 2016 - CI19
instore - September 2016 - Research and development - Functional ingredients for nutrition fortification
instore - September 2016 - CI21
instore - September 2016 - CI22
instore - September 2016 - CI23
instore - September 2016 - CI24
instore - September 2016 - 18
instore - September 2016 - Preview - What's in store at IBIE?
instore - September 2016 - 20
instore - September 2016 - 21
instore - September 2016 - Feature - Bringing the heat
instore - September 2016 - 23
instore - September 2016 - 24
instore - September 2016 - 25
instore - September 2016 - Specialty Insights - Consider: Yogurt parfaits
instore - September 2016 - 27
instore - September 2016 - Equipment & Packaging - Latest innovation: Packaging
instore - September 2016 - 29
instore - September 2016 - 30
instore - September 2016 - 31
instore - September 2016 - Product Knowledge - Need to know: Waffles on the go
instore - September 2016 - 33
instore - September 2016 - 34
instore - September 2016 - 35
instore - September 2016 - Merchandising - On display: Resurrecting cupcakes
instore - September 2016 - 37
instore - September 2016 - 38
instore - September 2016 - 39
instore - September 2016 - Product Trends - First to Market
instore - September 2016 - Product Showcase
instore - September 2016 - Ad Index
instore - September 2016 - 43
instore - September 2016 - 44
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