After a 3-month hiatus, New York’s original purveyor of massive cupcakes has returned. Crumbs Bake Shop, which once seemed to pop-up on every corner of Manhattan, re-opened its Garment District location at 1385 Broadway Tuesday morning at 7:30 a.m.
The new Crumbs is highly reminiscent of its former self, selling mini, classic, signature and colossal cupcakes along with breakfast pastries and a new food mashup the “baissant”– a bagel and croissant hybrid. We’ve seen this before though, this past January when Williamsburg’s The Bagel Store debuted its “cragel.”
In addition to baked goods, Crumbs is also selling Dippin’ Dots, the quasi-futuristic ice cream balls popular at baseball stadiums and airports.
Tuesday morning’s crowd drew in a few groups of families and tourists, eyeing what was once considered a New York staple, along with plenty of local office workers, excited for yet another, shorter line to wait in for a morning coffee. “My office is right next door, so [this location] was always very convenient. We bought these cupcakes for clients as treats and for people’s birthdays, so it’s really nice that it’s back,” said customer Hillary Kahn, whose favorite flavor is admittedly the chocolate and mint grasshopper.
Convenience may be the key to Crumbs’ future success. Hali Baumstein, who also works on the block and is a big fan of peanut butter desserts, was excited to purchase a Crumbs branded t-shirt at the opening. “I used to love coming here: they have great cupcakes and coffee and a shorter line than Starbucks,” she told us.
New owner Marcus Lemonis, most recognized from CNBC’s show “The Profit” (which was filming at the re-opening), aims to save this small business along with Fischer Enterprises, a financial services company, by going beyond traditional cupcakes. But what’s so bad about tasty, traditional cupcakes? “I’m very excited and very happy,” Lemonis said of the re-opening, “the product offering is much more diverse. We have everything from morning pastries to pretzel rolls, biscotti and French macaroons and are becoming more of a bakery than just a cupcake shop.” Crumbs still uses their original recipe although according to Lemonis the cupcakes are 5% smaller, to reduce the calorie count.
Crumbs plans to re-open 16 more stores in the New York area.
