Crumbs Bakery Is Back!

Crumbs filed for bankruptcy earlier this summer upsetting cupcake lovers across the nation. Come next Tuesday Crumbs will be reopening! A grand reopening celebration will be taking place at their 1385 Broadway location in the Garment District which has recently been repainted for the event. There are twenty five over locations including L.A, Chicago and Boston that will be having celebratory opening blowouts over the course of the next 20 days.

One of Crumbs Bakery’s new partners, TV host Marcus Lemonis, is eager for the relaunch to showcase his new bagel-croissant hybrid which is meant to encompass the “new, modern Crumbs experience.” This new fusion pastry coined “baissant” with be found in stores next to the “Crumbnut,” a reinterpretation of the Cronut. The idea of introducing these new pastry mash-ups was to diversify the product mix beyond just the scope of cupcakes. There will also be some new cupcake flavors though such as salted caramel and key lime. A few other new non-cupcake offerings will include frozen desserts, cookies, gluten-free options and Crumbs chocolate bars.

To read more about the reopening of Crumbs and it’s new product mix, click here

Restaurant Same-Store Sales Rise 1.6%

During the third quarter of 2014 Black Box, a financial performance benchmarking company, reported that restaurants saw the best sales trends in two years. The Restaurant Industry Snapshot from TDn2K’s Black Box Intelligence and People Report showed same store sales rose 1.6%; a great indicator of economic growth. The study is based on weekly sales from over 20,000 restaurant units representing more than $45 billion in annual revenue.

This has been the best third quarter for same-store sales since the first quarter of 2012. Victor Fernandez, executive director of insights and knowledge for TDn2K, parent company of Black Box Intelligence and People Report commented on the positive same-store sales for the second consecutive quarter, “The industry is clearly going through its best period over the last couple of years, as consumer confidence, real disposable income, the labor market and overall economic growth improved during the third quarter.”

Experts predict another quarter of positive sales growth in the industry. Wally Doolin, chairman of TDn2K brings attention to the fact that in Q3, ” same-store sales improved by almost twice as much as traffic, which means that a significant part of the improvement in sales during the quarter came from an increase in average guest checks.” To read more about the main factors that will determine the industry’s performance during the next two quarters, click here