47 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

My girlfriend is one of those people. She left a small fortune behind at that place.

[Bob Fugger]

Exactly. When Adrienne launched her "Man Cakes" lineup a couple of years back, which had flavours like bacon and peanut butter, and tequila and lime, the shop only got more popular.

She was incredibly creative and engaged and her products were affordable and looked and tasted great. A lot of people couldn't believe that her cupcakes had no dairy, egg, and usually no refined flours or sugars, and yet still tasted the way they did.

I disagree with other posters who said it was a 'niche within a niche' she was serving. You're right in that she was sold out most days before the shop closed. Pink Sugar wasn't just designed for "vegans"; in dairy and egg free products being vegan friendly is just an extra benefit.

There are plenty of lactose intolerant and/or gluten-sensitive people in Victoria faced with compulsive label-checking of desserts, who LOVED being able to scarf down those cupcakes without a worry. As we all know, most desserts, especially 98% of the baked good kind, have some sort of milk product in them, or flour.

It would have been interesting to take a Pepsi Challenge between Pink Sugar and Oo La La - I know that I preferred Oo La La because they were tastier, butterier and fluffier - something that is impossible-to-difficult to replicate when you're ommiting eggs and dairy. To that end, I could taste the difference - in that I thought that PS cupcakes tasted like a$$ when compared to OLL. But taste is, of course, subjective.

As for the reason given as to why she closed the shop, to be honest, I call BS on it - it's really kind of insane. I don't want to cast aspersions on you, bluefox, for offering the reason on this forum: maybe the reason she gave you wasn't the entire truth? I draw this conclusion because to me, it makes zero sense to mothball a successful cupcake operation: 1) Because she got married; and 2) In favour of an untested wedding publication in a world moving away from print media.

Why didn't she sell the cupcake business, then, instead of shut it down? It it was so successful (which I am not disputing, my tastes notwithstanding), she could have made a mint on the incremental value built from startup to today. What does she do with all of the equipment she bought, for example? Sell it at a loss when she could have sold it and the entire business for a substantial profit? From a business perspective, something doesn't quite add up.

[bluefox]

Why didn't she sell the cupcake business, then, instead of shut it down? It it was so successful (which I am not disputing, my tastes notwithstanding), she could have made a mint on the incremental value built from startup to today. What does she do with all of the equipment she bought, for example? Sell it at a loss when she could have sold it and the entire business for a substantial profit? From a business perspective, something doesn't quite add up.

I agree she is taking a risk, but she took a risk opening the cupcake place up, and she came out successful. I think her lease had come up again and, after some sober thought about what they wanted to do next, they just opted not to renew it. I know that she loves to travel and owning a shop doesn't allow you many travel opportunities - that could be one reason.

I'm not privy to any more information but from a business perspective you are right. Perhaps she did sell the shop, or just the equipment, and whoever the buyer is will re-open it as Pink Sugar or as another cupcake shop? I don't know if she did or not.

[Mike K.]

For all we know the equipment may have been sold and she didn't want the hassle of extending the lease, then waiting to sell the business while remaining on as an imdemnifier for the duration of the lease.

Plenty of businesses close up shop when their lease expires. Fat Phege's is one of them, even though the media made a big stink over Market Square not renewing their lease, the owners of Fat Phege's a long ways out maintained that they were disinterested in keeping the business going.

[Bob Fugger]

With an absence of information, I guess all we can do is speculate.

[LocalMom]

Too bad there are many outstanding Groupons for Pink Sugar that will go unfilled... Was looking forward to trying them. Off to Groupon to see about a credit or refund or... nothing.

[LocalMom]

Groupon easily and very quickly refunded my money, so if there are others out there like me, just email support AT groupon.com and you should be fine.

[G-Man]

Cupcakes only please!