If you follow us on Twitter, you may have noticed earlier in the week I was talking about shipping cupcakes. I’d say after recipe requests, the second most popular type of email we get is asking us when we’ll start shipping. I’m here to tell you that this week, we shipped our first dozen cupcakes ever. Remember how I promised you a funny story a few days ago? Well here it is!
Before we begin, I must stress that these cupcakes were not for a client, and you CANNOT order cupcakes from us at this time. It all has to do with some of the super-secret stuff we said we can’t talk about. I’m not saying to give up hope on the shipping- I’m just saying I can’t see it happening until at least the end of the summer at this point, if not later. And you’re about to find out why.
Tuesday morning we were invited to be in the audience for the special entrepreneur episode of Martha. This meant- brace yourselves- we actually had to turn off our Blackberries for an hour and a half (I know- it was really hard). The second we’re off the air, I grab it and turn it on, only to find a missed call from a certain “Mr. X”, a very, VERY important person whom I have been waiting to hear from for almost a week. Mr. X is in Florida, and has just learned he has a big meeting with Mr. Y the next day.
Note how Mr. X had TWO “verys” in front of his “important person” status. Well, Mr. Y has twenty “verys”. And Mr. Y wants to try the cupcakes. At 11am. The next day. In Florida.
It is at this point I almost brush off the staffers of Martha I was hoping to talk with, because Matt and I need to get our asses back to Brooklyn two hours ago. We bolt out the door into the pouring rain and into the subway, where we can do nothing but just sit there for an hour (we really need you to get on that whole cell service in the subway thing, MTA). We now have 2 hours to drive around Brooklyn, find proper packaging, figure out how to secure the cupcakes to said packaging so they don’t get destroyed, get ice packs and boxes, wrap the whole thing up and ship it to beautiful sunny Florida, AND see our children for 10 minutes before Matt has to load-in at Tasting Brooklyn and I have to bake for the next day. You know- average entrepreneur problems.
Matt walks into FedEx with the empty clamshell box just to get a quote and see if they have a box. And this is how that exchange went:
FedEx Guy: Box that size about five pounds? Let’s see….that will be $130.
Matt: (almost slaps the FedEx guy) Excuse me?
FedEx Guy: $130.
Matt: One more time.
FedEx Guy: Yeah, a few months ago it would have only been, like, 60 bucks. But gas went up. So it’s going to be $130.
Matt: Gas went up 33%. How the hell did the price go up over 200%?
FedEx Guy: Well, all our costs went up. And it’s a perishable package. So we need refrigerated trucks to transport the box to the airplane.
Matt: But we have ice packs.
FedEx Guy: But we still consider it perishable, so it’s going to cost you more.
Matt: So what you’re trying to say is that you won’t kick it around as much.
FedEx Guy: In not so many words, yes.
Matt returns to the car and screams about this for a good five minutes, when we decide to drive 6 blocks to the Post Office. Here is that exchange:
Post Office Guy: Overnight, that’ll be $123. Gas went up. And also, it might not be there tomorrow.
Matt: But I’m overnighting it.
Post Office Guy: I get that, but it doesn’t mean it’s actually going to show up tomorrow.
Matt: Then why would I pay you $123?
Post Office Guy: Well, we’ll TRY to get it there tomorrow. But we can’t swear it’s going to happen. It might. But if you don’t overnight it, it definitely won’t. We can promise it will get there eventually.
Matt: So if it doesn’t get there tomorrow, do I get my money back?
Post Office Guy: No.
Onto UPS!!!
UPS Guy: Well, the bad news is that it’s $144. But the good news is that if you’re a AAA member, it’s only $133!
Well, we really don’t have a choice at this point. One hundred and thirty freaking dollars is a lot of money to us, but it’s nothing to Mr. Y, and we want to eventually be chilling with Mr. Y in a hot tub on his yacht somewhere. Our friends at Liddabit Sweets, who ship all the time, hooked us up with ice packs and shipping materials, and off Matt went to FedEx. Last we heard, cupcakes showed up perfect, and Mr. Y loved them. We both had nightmares about the post office that night.
Hey, at least we know how to ship now.
Onto flavors……..pay attention to the locations portion, because there’s a brand new store in there! IN QUEENS! Who loves ya, Astoria?!?!
Clockwise from front: Wild Maine Blueberry Cobbler, Banana Cream Pie, Car Bomb, Tiramisu
NEW!!! Banana Cream Pie: Banana cake, pastry cream filling, mascarpone & vanilla custard buttercream, ground graham crackers, banana chip
Wild Maine Blueberry Cobbler: Vanilla cake, blueberry syrup, vanilla buttercream, blueberry compote, cinnamon streusel
Tiramisu: Espresso soaked cake, espresso ganache, mascarpone buttercream, cocoa powder
Car Bomb: Chocolate Guinness stout cake, Jameson whiskey ganache, Bailey’s Irish Cream buttercream
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Available at:
CAFE AT SAM’S BAKERY- 94th Street off 3rd Ave, Bay Ridge
CRESPELLA CREPE & ESPRESSO BAR- 321 7th Avenue at 9th Street, Park Slope
BLUE APRON FOODS: Union St. off 7th Ave, Park Slope
TAZZA CAFES- Henry off Atlantic and Clark off Henry, Brooklyn Heights
COURT STREET GROCERS: 485 Court Street, Carroll Gardens
QATHRA: 1112 Cortelyou Road, Ditmas Park
RADISH- Bedford Ave off N8th, Williamsburg
RED HOOK LOBSTER POUND: 284 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook *Wild Maine Blueberry Cobbler cupcakes only*
BEDFORD HILL: Corner of Franklin & Greene, BedStuy/Clinton Hill Border
EASTERN DISTRICT- Manhattan Ave off Eagle St, Greenpoint
BROOKLYN STANDARD: Nassau Ave & Jewel St, Greenpoint
CAKESHOP- Ludlow btwn Stanton & Rivington, Lower East Side
JOE: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY- W. 120th btwn Broadway & Amsterdam Avenue
JOE: GRAND CENTRAL STATION- 44 Grand Central Terminal, Near the Graybar Passage
NEW LOCATION!!!!! QUEENS COMFORT: 40-09 30th Ave, Astoria
*Note: Not all locations receive all flavors. The flavors recieved are determined by each store’s management, not by us. If there’s something in the upcoming rotation you want to see, let them know directly.
