Cupmudgeonism

Cupcakes, New York’s Unlikely Economic Savior

Thank you, cupcake saviors.
Thank you, cupcake saviors. Photo: Helen Rosner

The dessert trend that refuses to die is apparently saving New York City. According to a report from real-estate-services firm Eastern Consolidated, “cupcake cafes” are growing at a rate faster than other segments of the restaurant industry, which in turn means they’re contributing more jobs to the labor market, reports The Wall Street Journal. Butter Lane has gone from six to twenty employees in the last year, the fifteen-location Crumbs has three more shops planned before the end of the year, and even dude-cupcake bakery Butch has quintupled from one to five employees since opening. That’s just fine for now, but once market oversaturation leads to the (inevitable, please?) cupcake backlash and all these shops go out of business, there’s going to be a whole bunch of unemployed cupcake-makers on the streets. Maybe they can find alternate employment as doughnut frosters? [Metropolis/WSJ]

Cupcakes, New York’s Unlikely Economic Savior