As a business model, I imagine a cupcake shop presents many challenges. First and foremost, a single product offering limits the customer base. Most successful companies have multiple revenue streams, and when you only sell one product you have exactly one revenue stream. On the other hand, a singular focus allows the owner to center his or her attention entirely on that one item, ideally creating a superior product. If we assume that to be true, the benefit in running a traditional bakery is increased revenue through offering a variety of items and therefore increasing the number of customers they appeal to. Follow me? Savvy?
Considering the proliferation of cupcake shops and bakeries in Los Angeles over the past few years, where do supermarkets fit in? Is it possible to find a decent cupcake in a supermarket?
Maybe. Viktor Bene’s Continental Bakery is a longtime partner of Gelson’s and self-proclaimed first European-style bakery in California [Editor's note: Over my dead body. Don't the Czech know we French invented baked goods?]. They make fancy cakes, cookies, tarts, and – of course - cupcakes. My first experience with Viktor Bene’s was a $42 chocolate hedgehog cake that I purchased for my brother’s 18th birthday. It was rich, decadent and incredibly funny. Since then, I’ve picked up bread here and there, but always when I was already at the supermarket. It was never my destination until I went looking for cupcakes.
Unfortunately, the cupcakes were disappointing. Visually I found them pleasing, and I’m sure they were very good the day they were made – which wasn’t the day I purchased them. The cupcakes, which only come in chocolate and vanilla, were chilled from being in the case and dry, dry, dry. The frosting was extraordinarily thick and full of butter which is probably why it held its shape so perfectly. At $1.75 it was a minimal expenditure, but one I wouldn’t repeat again unless I receive confirmation that cupcakes were baked fresh that day. I suggest you do the same, or when all else fails, get the hedgehog. It’s fantastic.
Viktor Bene’s
multiple locations throughout Los Angeles
Photo by me
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