kickass cupcakes closed?

[thespian.livejournal.com]

I was just told thirdhand (someone saw it happening, told their friend, who told me because we'd been discussing it a few weeks ago) that Kickass Cupcakes has closed (the someone who saw it happening saw things being moved out of the new location into trucks).

Their facebook page is definitely gone.

Anyone down near their 'new' location who can maybe ascertain this?

Comments

[wintahill.livejournal.com]

Their most recent review on Yelp dated 8/4 is from someone who apparently placed a cupcake order for a wedding. They went to pickup the prepaid order to find the store "closed for vacation" and stated that the voicemail box for the store is full when they called. http://www.yelp.com/biz/kickass-cupcakes-somerville. This does not sound very good for the business, closed for renovations or vacation often means closed for good in restaurant lingo it seems. Either it is closed or it is just not being run very well at all. Perhaps the recent move to the new space was driven by trying to cut costs, by reducing the rent payments (just a speculation on my part though).

I can't say I was ever much of a fan of their cupcakes and I think the whole cupcake fad in general is finally running out of gas, being over taken by donuts and cronuts it seems as the next big sweet baked thing trend. That being said I was really put off by some of the comments towards customers coming from the owner of this establishment, just a classic example of how not to respond to criticism of your business. Based on that attitude alone I decided never to buy anything else from them again.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

they had been doing the baking at 199 Highland for a while; they had expanded to 2 food trucks in addition to the store, so moving the retail to that location would save rent. However, it completely killed their foot traffic.

There's a thing in the restaurant industry that it's a bad sign when a restaurant suddenly drops an entire meal shift; the dreaded 'closed for lunch' deal, in order to save money. It saves some on paper, but it isn't as much as it *appears* to be, because lots of prep for dinner service is done during the end of lunch and slower afternoon. All it really saves you is the wages of a couple of serving staff.

This had the same feel to me. Saving on rent is a nice theory, but it meant that unless you were going *to* Kickass Cupcakes, you were not likely to pop in. So on paper it saved a Davis Square's worth of rent, but it meant their retail sales were going to drop off to nothing.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

I think you are spot on, here.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about the cupcake fad in general and Kickass Cupcakes specifically. I always felt they were highly overrated and way overpriced.

I was just reading the Yelp reviews too, as you apparently were -- I really feel for the couple with the wedding. What a huge headache, that I'm sure they so don't need.

Anyway, all the writing on the wall seems to point to Kickass being gonzo.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Ugh, that sucks for the couple! At least it was a pretty small order, so I bet they could have walked into Lindell's, Qdabra, or some combination and walked out with enough for less than what they'd already paid.

[Checking that reviewer's reviews, looks like they got cupcakes from Whole Foods same day. Glad it worked out for them anyway.]

[ron_newman]

What and where is Qdabra? Google thinks that's a software company, not a baker.

ETA - oh did you mean Quebrada in East Arlington?

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Er... yes. :]

[teko.livejournal.com]

When they moved, they'd apparently commented to some customers that they were focusing more on catering and their food trucks, which if that's the bulk of their business, makes sense.

I will say that the one time I encountered a Kickass Cupcakes food truck, it was with a group of other local trucks (Mei Mei, Pennypackers, etc). The other trucks had folks out front smiling and welcoming people, taking orders, pointing out specials on big pricing boards. Kickass had a tiny window in their truck with a scowling woman peering out, a tiny chalkboard with no prices on it next to the window. They weren't doing much business at all.