39 responses to “Butch it up buttercup; these aren’t your grandma’s cupcakes!”

1. 

   Justin de la Chi(cago) March 10th, 2010 at 07:14

   First thought is that this theory of butching up specific products depicted and socially correlated to femininity is a great perspective to adding a creative edge. I do so appreciate the quality and unique ingredients….bacon crumbles, really!?! Awesome, they should be used with every food.

   Second thought is that he better get prepared for a nationwide demand, and quickly.

   Finally, the quote, “We love the girls, we love the guys, we love the gays. We’ll sell to anyone,” makes me laugh. Aren’t gays both guys and girls, potentially, so is there a bit of alienation in the attempt of inclusion? Just sayin’.

   J

2. 

   Michael Tym March 10th, 2010 at 08:55

   This is a great story of a true entrepreneur going out of work, seeing a niche, and taking advantage of it and making something thats been around for a very long time and making it better. very cool

3. 

   Kyle Egbert March 10th, 2010 at 09:01

   Really cool way to enter a usually saturated market. Just goes to show that you always need to look at everything in your own way and not follow conventional wisdom.

4. 

   John Gorbandt March 10th, 2010 at 10:00

   I think that this is a really interesting take on a cupcake. I think that this a good idea. Everybody loves novelty items especially in the food industry. This seems like something you could take to any kind of informal gathering. I also think that New York is a great place for a business to grow and prosper.

5. 

   Taylor Gelsosomo March 10th, 2010 at 10:19

   I love cupcakes! I think it’s a great idea! New York is definitely a good place to try it out since there is such a diverse group of people.

6. 

   Zachary Mirsberger March 10th, 2010 at 10:32

   While these are a novelty item, I don’t really see them as !0 times better than the average cupcake. I think there this product will do an excellant job at stealing customers from other cupcake makers, but I don’t really see it creating a wide spread cupcake desire amongst males.

7. 

   Colby Beacham March 10th, 2010 at 10:51

   I don’t think he’s going for widespread adoption here, he found a niche that wasn’t filled, I’d say more gourmet cupcakes than exclusively masculine cupcakes, and he filled it. You don’t need to be a global company to do well. He will probably have a very successful local business.

8. 

   Brett Cohen March 10th, 2010 at 11:36

   That’s pretty awesome. I like how his experiments in the kitchen actually led to a great business start up.

9. 

   Molly Longest March 10th, 2010 at 11:56

   There has definitely been a trend lately in the cupcake business. Cupcakes are suddenly fashionable but it seems that he’s grabbing onto this business on the downfall of its popularity. Although I do love the idea of making cupcakes masculine, I doubt many guys would eat a lime, mint and white chocolate cupcake. When I think of cupcakes that would appeal to a man I think of a more simple, gooey chocolate cupcake with double chocolate icing. Also as far as the decorative touches go, I find them appealing but even though they’re infused with camo and masculine prints in mind, they still seem a bit overdone to be considered “masculine’. The packaging looks great though and the cupcakes do sound delicious. In the food industry I guess the true test though is whether or not people will eat your food. I’m interested to see how his business goes.

10. 

    Justin Riley March 10th, 2010 at 12:06

    This is a pretty neat idea! Who would have thought that someone could put a “masculine” touch to a cupcake and make it so popular?! I agree with Colby though, I do not think this will be a big widespread company. I think he will just stick to being a local company in New York and he may ship some out if you order them but that would be about it.

11. 

    Alexandra Graves March 10th, 2010 at 12:24

    I love sweets and I think this is a great idea!! I’d love to go to NY and have one!! Road Trip anyone!?!?

12. 

    Angeline Tran March 10th, 2010 at 13:43

    When I first loaded this page, my mouth watered as I saw these beautiful cupcakes. They seriously look so good. I wasn’t surprised that women were the most frequent buyers, but I think this would be a great gift for a guy with a sweet tooth

13. 

    Thomas Gick March 10th, 2010 at 13:55

    Now those are sp,e tasty looking cupcakes, great idea

14. 

    Jaideep Singh March 10th, 2010 at 14:39

    Nice concept. hope it opens near Purdue (too much wishful thinking?). I haven’t heard of any “national” cupcake chain.

15. 

    Colleen Cahill March 10th, 2010 at 15:32

    What a great idea. This is a concept not seen enough in entrepreneurship, to take an exsisting product and modify toward a non-traditional audience. The cupcakes look amazing as well.

16. 

    Andrew Barr March 10th, 2010 at 15:50

    I don’t really like sweets that much and the cupcakes look really sweet, but as I read on and found out that they had some unique flavors I would definitely try them. I always wondered why more people don’t go into the food industry with just really crazy food. I think there’s a lot of people like me who are willing to try anything, but restaurants all have basically the same menus. I think this guy is on to something

17. 

    Dan Wyss March 10th, 2010 at 15:51

    This is a great story. I’m sure all of us would love to just come up with a successful idea like that without much tought and have it work out. I bet he does really well with his new store opening.

18. 

    Anthony Sikorski March 10th, 2010 at 16:45

    This is shows that even when you think your out of work you can get right back up and come up with something new. David probabley didn’t realize when he was first unemployed that he was learning something new, that would change his life. But, Learning how to cook and look at things differently has allowed David to become an entrapenur.

19. 

    Spencer Abrams March 10th, 2010 at 17:17

    Very interesting, but I don’t see too many people going out of their way to order a cupcake online, then wait for it to arrive. The biggest business would come from large orders to private parties, and most of that business would be generated through word of mouth advertising.

20. 

    Loïc mazet March 10th, 2010 at 17:20

    Amazing Idea.

21. 

    Zach Morgan March 10th, 2010 at 17:24

    I definitely see how his business model is destructive compared to other cupcake makers. However, I just do not see how it can take off. He would need some serious sponsors. He needs to be the “official cupcake maker” somewhere! lol

22. 

    Beck Warwick March 10th, 2010 at 18:29

    great spin on the disneyfication of desserts

23. 

    Keegan Klauke March 10th, 2010 at 18:53

    haha I am all for the butchification of things. this is a prime example of being able to expand into a market that was never around before, hell who wants to start a butch bakery here on campus?

24. 

    Amanda Edmondson March 10th, 2010 at 22:20

    I absolutely love this concept and the whole story behind it! I am very impressed by the creativeness that Mr. Arrick displayed. The names/flavors of the cupcakes follow the theme of his business perfectly. As a female, sometimes I believe that some things are overly feminine- so it’s nice to see a new twist on bakeries. Mr. Arrick has taken cupcakes to a whole new level and I think he will be successful because it’s so different.

25. 

    Ravi Mody March 10th, 2010 at 22:23

    this gives me hope because I always mess around in the kitchen, not so much with sweets, but with dinners and lunches. I think this is a great business idea and these days people are into trying bizarre foods and combinations.

26. 

    Meiqi Zhao March 10th, 2010 at 22:25

    It is great to see these new kinds of cupcake.
    I really want to try one.
    I think it is hard to compete with exsiting markets. Though it has many new tastes, there will be something challenging this business.

27. 

    Patrick Ostrosky March 10th, 2010 at 22:37

    Its great that this guy was able to find something he liked after working as a lawyer on wall street before the meltdown. I read a story in the WSJ about a Harvard MBA who was fluent in a few languages who had to get a job at the Men’s Warehouse and a real warehouse after he got laid off from his investment banking firm. Its good to see a guy in a similar situation become an entrepreneur in a niche market. Don’t know about the beer flavored cupcakes though….

28. 

    Casey Piquette March 10th, 2010 at 23:38

    One of the famous cupcake places in NYC is Magnolia Bakery…and yes I have waited in that line for a $5 cupcake. That is exactly why I think this idea will work. There are so many visitors in NYC that want to try something new and tasty. Whether it be a traditional famous Magnolia cupcake, or a manly cupcake…I definitely think it has a novelty appeal.

    I don’t think this work work so much in a smaller town or area, but I think it will fit well with the sort of traffic New York gets.

29. 

    Kyla Garrett March 11th, 2010 at 00:55

    Oh my goodness we need one of those here!!! I can’t tell you how much I love this idea – men are impossible to incorporate in the world of baking yet this is the brilliant idea. For example, these cupcakes would have been the perfect desert at my boyfriend’s birthday last month; he is the ideal senior, fraternity brother – the masculine designs with the taste of alcohol would have been a hilarious and tasty treat for him and all his friends. I could even see my sports obsessed uncle getting into these cupcakes.

    In my opinion Mr. Arrick has one heck of an original idea that appeals to an unsuspecting crowd. Men don’t come off as the traditional cupcake lovers but if you mix in a bit of beer and football designs we just might see a new trend at the Super Bowl parties.

30. 

    Aditya Chaudhari March 11th, 2010 at 13:04

    This is the whole purpose of entr. Taking something and innovating it. Nice!

31. 

    Austin Collins March 11th, 2010 at 14:24

    I think that this was a great idea making a treat for children appeal to a more adult group of people. The name of the bakery is great.

32. 

    Ariana Zades March 11th, 2010 at 17:29

    I love the name, it gives off a sarcastic vibe which was kinda what he wanted with the cupcake. This is really inspiring to me because I love love love to bake and am hoping to open my own bakery one day. I never thought of this though!

33. 

    Arpit Bawa March 11th, 2010 at 18:00

    This is a great idea from a true entrepreneur. He took something that was already out there and made it 10x better.

34. 

    Mahmood Alrawi March 20th, 2010 at 21:20

    this is a really funny story. going from wallstreet to a bakery…whatever works i guess.

35. 

    Soroosh Karamyar March 21st, 2010 at 17:54

    pics look scrumptious. Smart way to put a new twist on an old idea.

36. 

    Blake Bronowicki March 23rd, 2010 at 09:16

    This is a really touching story. I hope this young man’s idea goes far and he gets himself out of the hole of unemployment. The concept is great and I wonder what the secret recipes behind these treats are. Modifying a product to make it that much better and I really hope to see this man do well. Hopefully if marketed correctly these products will get out to the right population and bring in a great amount of revenue.

37. 

    Daniel Johnson March 23rd, 2010 at 09:47

    I think this was a great idea to take advantage of a oppurtunity at hand. He did a great job of making this appealing to both sexes!

38. 

    Courtney M. Cronk March 23rd, 2010 at 20:00

    O MY GOODNESS I WANT THESE CUPCAKES! They sound amazing.It’s so interesting to think that his career and his hobbies had nothing to do with cooking or baking but because he found himself unemployed hey became a “really good cook” and decided to make manly cupcakes. How did he think to put in beers? and how did he know what flavors? i imagine it took a lot of trial and error or he did his homework on what beers go well with desserts. either way, an awesome idea and once again i wish it was mine!

    congrats to him on opening a cupcakery in NYC. definately jealous.

39. 

    Abhinandan De March 23rd, 2010 at 21:07

    Mr. Arrick you got a marvel of a cupcake there. I havent looked forward to cupcake like this. Every university may need to have one outlet. If Insomnia Cookies serves our cookie needs, Butch Bakery can surely fill our cupcake cravings.