- Title: USA: New York's Butch Bakery creates cupcakes to appeal to men's tastes
- Date: 17th July 2010
- Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JULY 16, 2010) (REUTERS) DAVID ARRICK STIRRING CREAM VARIOUS CUPCAKES ON DISPLAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) DAVID ARRICK, BUTCH BAKERY, SAYING "We have the beer, the beer run, which is a beer cupcake. We've got a salted caramel cupcake, it's the salt and the sweet. They go great together. We've got a great banana, peanut butter with crushed bacon, so if you think about it, it's kind of like the Elvis sandwich, you know, peanut butter, bacon, and banana, we've got a cupcake that has that. We've got a cupcake that has whiskey. It tastes like a B-52. We've got a coffee flavored, coffee-infused, which is with some Kahlua, so a nice coffee cupcake. That's a huge hit for us." ARRICK PACKAGING CUPCAKES "BUTCH BAKERY" LOGO (SOUNDBITE) (English) DAVID ARRICK, BUTCH BAKERY, SAYING "That's how Butch Bakery was born, I thought they are all very feminine and pink and a lot of them are frilly with jelly beans and sprinkles, and I thought I want to do something very different than that, and I decided to something with a masculine bent to it and that's how I came up with the idea." VARIOUS OF ARRICK PACKAGING CUPCAKES (SOUNDBITE) (English) DAVID ARRICK, BUTCH BAKERY, SAYING "I think that we eat with our eyes first before our stomachs and I think that it's got to be visually appealing, and I wanted something that was going to have an impact from the beginning, right when you see it." ARRICK PUTTING CUPCAKES INTO A BAG (SOUNDBITE) (English) DAVID ARRICK, BUTCH BAKERY, SAYING "The response has been overwhelming, all around the world, media response from all around the world, I get orders from all around the world from as far away as Australia as a matter of fact." ARRICK WALKING DOWN THE STREET AND INTO A BUILDING WITH A BAG FILLED WITH CUPCAKES ARRICK DELIVERING CUPCAKES CUPCAKE BOX BEING OPENED PEOPLE TALKING MAN EATING CUPCAKE HALF-EATEN CUPCAKE PEOPLE EATING CUPCAKES (SOUNDBITE) (English) STACEY BRASS, A CUSTOMER WHO BUYS CUPCAKES FROM BUTCH BAKERY, SAYING "I think this is a totally unique, new, I think the flavors are a little more sophisticated. It's not just a vanilla cupcake. They even feel, not just for men, but even just more grown-up." SIGN READING "Who says cupcakes are for girls?"
- Embargoed: 1st August 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVA4OBWLLMOC4NZFWQ971AVW2XGC
- Story Text: Many would describe cupcakes as cute, small and perhaps even a little bit girlie. But now a businessman in New York has launched a "Butch Bakery" from were he creates what he calls the ultimate culinary indulgence for men -- the butch cupcake.
Many people think of cupcakes as dainty sweet treats, relished by women and girls. But New York's David Arrick is seeking to change that image. He has cooked up the Butch Bakery which makes cupcakes especially designed and baked to be enjoyed by men.
Arrick said his $4.25 (USD) cupcakes do not come in standard vanilla and chocolate flavours.
"We have the beer, the beer run, which is a beer cupcake. We've got a salted caramel cupcake, it's the salt and the sweet. They go great together. We've got a great banana, peanut butter with crushed bacon, so if you think about it, it's kind of like the Elvis sandwich, you know, peanut butter, bacon, and banana, we've got a cupcake that has that. We've got a cupcake that has whiskey. It tastes like a B-52. We've got a coffee flavored, coffee-infused, which is with some Kahlua, so a nice coffee cupcake. That's a huge hit for us," he said.
Standing inside his Manhattan apartment, packaging cupcakes for delivery, Arrick said the idea came to him after he lost his job as a Wall Street attorney in 2008. After months of looking for work, Arrick said he decided to try something new. After a little market research, he decided to create cupcakes, but not the typical kind.
"That's how Butch Bakery was born, I thought they are all very feminine and pink and a lot of them are frilly with jelly beans and sprinkles, and I thought I want to do something very different than that, and I decided to something with a masculine bent to it and that's how I came up with the idea," he explained.
Butch Bakery markets itself as making "manly cupcakes for manly men," but Arrick said they appeal to anybody who has a taste for something new.
"I think that we eat with our eyes first before our stomachs and I think that it's got to be visually appealing, and I wanted something that was going to have an impact from the beginning, right when you see it," he said.
Arrick said his business is growing fast. Since opening in November 2009, business has grown about 500 percent despite U.S. economic turmoil, and Butch Bakery now sells about 500 cupcakes a week. Arrick aims to quadruple that.
"The response has been overwhelming, all around the world, media response from all around the world, I get orders from all around the world from as far away as Australia as a matter of fact," he said.
Right now, Butch Bakery only takes online orders and the cupcakes are baked in a commercial kitchen in the New York City borough of Queens. Arrick said he plans to open a shop in Manhattan later this year. He is also publishing a cupcake cookbook and is hoping for a reality television show.
And if his plate wasn't already full enough, the Butch Bakery also does deliveries.
One customer, yoga studio owner, Stacey Brass said: "I think this is a totally unique, new, I think the flavors are a little more sophisticated. It's not just a vanilla cupcake. They even feel, not just for men, but even just more grown-up."
Ironically, Arrick admits most of his customers are women, but he insists that doesn't mean cupcakes are just for girls. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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