Milling & Baking News - January 25, 2011 - 10

Business 

Crumbs Holdings to go public following
acquisition by 57th Street General
NEW YORK - 57th Street General
Acquisition Corp. has entered into
an agreement to acquire Crumbs
Holdings L.L.C., owner of one of the
largest cupcake chains in the United
States. The merger is being undertaken in an effort to take Crumbs
public.
The proposed transaction is valued at approximately $66 million
and would include $27 million in
cash and $39 million in 57th Street
common stock. Crumbs owners also
would have the potential to receive
an additional $44 million in stock
depending on the company's future
stock performance and earnings.
The transaction is expected to be
completed in March 2011.
Mia and Jason Bauer co-founded
Crumbs in 2003 in New York City.
The company operates 34 company-owned stores in six states and
the District of Columbia featuring
Crumbs Signature-size cupcakes.
The company offers more than 75
cupcake varieties baked fresh daily,
as well as more than 150 different
sweet goods, including cakes, pies,
cookies, Danishes, scones, croissants, brownies and muffins.
The company also has an e-commerce division at www.crumbs.com
that ships cupcakes nationwide.
Once the transaction is finalized,
Mr. Bauer and Ms. Bauer will continue in their roles as chief executive officer and chief creative officer, respectively. John Ireland will
remain as chief financial officer.

Meanwhile, Edwin Lewis, former
c.e.o. of both Tommy Hilfiger, Inc.
and Mossimo, Inc., and a former senior executive at Polo Ralph Lauren
Corp., is expected to join the board
of directors at Crumbs.
Mr. Lewis was an early
investor in Crumbs.
"Mia and I never
could have envisioned
how far Crumbs would
come when we started
eight years ago," Mr.
Bauer said. "This transaction is a statement for
us about how many lives Crumbs
has touched and eight years of really hard work and the dedication
of our amazing employees. We are
very excited about Crumbs' future
and look forward to becoming a
public company upon the closing of
our transaction with 57th Street.
"The additional equity capital
that may be available should enable
us to execute our development strategy more quickly and help us reach
our initial expansion to a planned
200 locations in the top 15 markets
by year-end 2014."
Mark Klein, chairman, c.e.o. and
president of 57th Street, called the
cupcake category "a unique subsection of the burgeoning fast-casual
segment of the restaurant industry,"
adding that Crumbs has emerged as
the cupcake leader with "significant
long-term potential."
"Crumbs benefits from a founderdriven culture and an experienced

Buhler to set up hotline, Caribbean hub
PLYMOUTH, MINN. - Buhler, Inc.
plans to open a regional customer
service hub in the Caribbean, expand
warehouse capacity to carry a greater
number of spare parts and introduce
a support hotline after reviewing its
2010 customer satisfaction survey.
"We believe deeply in the value of
the customer satisfaction survey process started back in 2007, which we
now consider our primary measure of
success," said Rene Steiner, president
of Buhler. "These surveys are absolutely critical to ensure that we understand our customer's needs and that
we can continue to improve our ability
to deliver value on a daily basis."
Satmetrix Systems, Inc., San Mateo,
10 / January 25, 2011 Milling & Baking News

Calif., conducted the survey, which
was comprised of more than 1,300 individual contacts of which 265 completed the survey. Overall, Buhler
had a customer satisfaction index

score of 8.11 on a 10-point scale where
10 means extremely satisfied. The 8.11
score marked a slight decrease from
8.48 in 2009, but it was above the national average score of 7.8. Buhler received the highest ratings in the areas
of understanding customers' requirements, understanding customers'

management team that has proven
successful in expanding from a
single Manhattan bake shop to 34
locations across the country," Mr.
Klein said. "After reviewing a significant number of potential opportunities, we determined that given
its significant potential for growth
and further development of its
brand, Crumbs presented the most attractive
and compelling private
company and was best
aligned with our goal
of maximizing value for
our shareholders."
During 2010, Crumbs
said it generated net income of $1.7 million to
$1.9 million on sales of $31.1 million, while EBITDA was between
$2.4 million and $2.6 million. For
2011, Crumbs expects income of
between $3.1 million and $3.9 million and sales of $45 million to $50
million, and by 2012, income is expected to reach $8 million to $9 million on sales of $85 million to $90
million.
The company opened seven new
stores during 2010 and plans to
open another 15 to 21 stores in 2011,
with the majority of new locations
to open in the second half of 2011.
By 2014, the company plans to have
200 locations in operation.
57th Street was formed in October 2009 for the purpose of acquiring an operating business or assets,
through a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization, exchangeable
share transaction or other similar
business transaction. MBN
operational processes, consulting
competence, valid proposed solutions and project management.
Buhler will open its Caribbean customer service hub early in 2011. The
company has added four members to
its field service team. The warehouse
expansion will allow Buhler to carry
300% more spare parts than it could
carry in 2007. The North American
automation department will introduce
the local 24/7 support hotline for all
automation related inquiries.
Also in response to survey results,
Buhler will issue a visit report after
every customer visit, and engineering will implement a project review
three months after completion to ensure projects are meeting customer
expectations. MBN
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

http://www.crumbs.com http://www.bakingbusiness.com http://www.world-grain.com

Milling & Baking News - January 25, 2011

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