A Crowd at Crumbs’ Reopening, But Not Everyone Is a Customer

In a Midtown Manhattan storefront partially obscured by scaffolding, a crowd gathered Tuesday to welcome back Crumbs Bake Shop, the cupcake chain that shut its doors and filed for bankruptcy in July.

Two of the chain’s new owners, self-styled turnaround guru Marcus Lemonis and Scott Fisher, whose company also owns Dippin’ Dots, milled around the room. Employees, press reps and others from the new management team squeezed into the space not already occupied by hulking video cameras.

The crowd left little room for what some might call an important contingent—the customers.

“OK, photographers, let people buy cupcakes,” Mr. Lemonis shouted as some would-be customers walked in the door.

Crumbs’ revival includes plans to open 25 stores before the holidays in New York, New Jersey, Chicago and elsewhere, according to the company. And while the new owners are convinced they’ll do better than Crumbs did before its trip to bankruptcy, Mr. Lemonis says he knows they have some work to do.

“We were in a mad dash to get open,” he says after wiping down a crumb-dusted table. “We’ve gotten the product right, but we still need to work on the process.” (For the record, Mr. Lemonis says he’s gluten-free and doesn’t actually indulge in most of the Crumbs goods).

The new owners also concede that Crumbs’ reliance almost exclusively on cupcakes contributed to the chain’s downfall. Tuesday, the desserts on display included cake pops, macaroons, a freezer full of Dippin’ Dots and two twists on the hybrid croissant trend: the crozel (pretzel-croissant) and the baissant (bagel-croissant).

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The opening brought good news for Bronx-based Melita Bakery, a major supplier to Crumbs that had to lay off more than a third of its workforce when Crumbs shut down. Watching from outside the store, Melita owner Emanuel Darmanin said he was optimistic about the new strategy. “I feel it, they’ll do a better job with Crumbs,” Mr. Darmanin said, adding that Melita’s business is recovering and they expect to hire back a majority of the laid off employees.

Many of the customers tentatively walking into the media fray Tuesday seemed more eager to take a selfie with Mr. Lemonis, who hosts a CNBC reality show centered on saving small businesses, than to eat a cupcake.

One such fan, Jonathan Ramsuchit, said he came to the opening for a photo op with Mr. Lemonis. With that mission accomplished, he sat down to split a treat with a friend. “I like the chocolate cupcakes,” he said.

One young woman waiting patiently in line came to the store seeking a bit more than a baked good. The woman, who preferred not to give her name, said that when Crumbs closed, the cleaning company she worked for got stuck with a $15,000 bill.

If Crumbs still refuses to pay, she said her employer had another suggestion: “My boss told me to come and get $15,000 in cupcakes.”

Write to Sara Randazzo at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @sara_randazzo.