Crumbs Is Trying to Stay Relevant in a Post-Cronut World

Crumbs Bake Shop, that place people used to go to for cupcakes, is now selling sandwiches and knock-off cronuts. Will they be able to revitalize their business by jumping on the new pastry bandwagon?

Crumbs Bake Shop, that place people used to go to for cupcakes, is now selling sandwiches and knock off cronuts. With sales down, the bakery's New York area shops recently started offering gourmet sandwiches and salads created by celebrity chef David Burke. So, if you're in Manhattan and want to order something with protein — like a "pastrami salmon" sandwich or "beet and goat cheese" salad — to go with your kitten sized red velvet cupcake, that option is now available to you.

And in a move that perfectly sums up the change in the dessert landscape, the former It pastry makers are resorting to knocking off the new guy. Cupcakes stopped being a thing long before croissants and donuts were joined together, but there's a consensus that cronuts are the new cupcakes. Crumb's LA shops recently started offering crumbnuts (for just $2.95), making them approximately the one millionth company to jump on the cronut bandwagon (or, at the very least, one of 12 in Los Angeles).

You can't really blame them, though. The Wall Street Journal wrote off Crumbs earlier this year, noting that Magnolia Bakery, the shop that started it all on Sex and the City, managed to stay profitable by running fewer shops and managing expenses. In its first quarter filing, Crumbs admitted that the "negative effects of locating new stores in close proximity to existing stores" played a role in decreased sales, and the company plans to close low performing shops, according to Businessweek. And if cutting back, selling sandwiches and the crumbnut don't help, there's always the cupcake ATM.

(Crumbnut photo by Digital LA.)