Cupcake Tour in St. Louis: A Sweet Tooth’s Dream
Today’s post is delicious, if you have a sweet tooth. I will be sharing highlights from my Cupcake Tour in St. Louis, MO reviewing 3 popular cupcakeries. I have an addiction to cupcakes, I have tried them in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, and St. Louis, with the goal to continue the Cupcake Tour in every city that I travel to. Here are the top criteria I use for evaluating cupcakeries:
1. Cake – Taste, Moistness, Freshness, and Size.
2. Frosting – Taste and Amount (less is more)
3. Price
4. Product choices – Variety and originality of flavors
5. Customer Service – are employees friendly, knowledgeable, and willing to go the extra mile?
6. Packaging – is it unique? Attractive? Do cupcakes stay in place?
7. Store design – Does cupcakery have pleasant, unique design?
Cupcakery #1 – Jilly’s Cupcake Bar & Cafe (jillyscupcakebar.com)
Sample: Turtle Cheesecake, rating B
Description: Cake: Chocolate, Stuffing: Cheescake & Caramel, Topping: Milk Chocolate & Caramel Buttercream, Caramel, Pecans & Chocolate Curls.
Cost: $5.50
What I liked: Product choices (12+ daily cupcake choices, very creative naming), size (cupcakes are huge), cupcakes have 3 distinct parts (cake, stuffing, & topping), store design (cute, modern, colorful & spacious), and clear plastic packaging securely holds cupcakes in place. Frosting (topping) was amazing, cake was fresh.
What I didn’t like: Cost on higher end (ranged from $5 to $6 per cupcake).
Cupcakery #2 – The Cup (www.cravethecup.com)
Sample: Confetti cupcake, rating B+
Description: Cake: Vanilla, Frosting: Buttercream
Price: $2.75
What I liked: Product choices (7 standard + 9 rotating daily cupcake choices), Frosting was delicious (not too much), pricing ($2.75 & $3,25), store design (cozy, comfortable, chic), employees friendly, very attractive paper packaging.
What I didn’t like: Cake was a little dry, small cupcake size, and limited parking options.
Cupcakery #3 – The Sweet Divine (www.thesweetdivine.com)
Sample: Pink champagne, rating A-, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough rating B-
Description: Cake: Pink champagne, Frosting: Pink champagne Buttercream
Price: $2.50
What I liked: Pink Champagne Cake was moist, fresh, and tasted homemade. Frosting very delicious (not too much), lots of product choices (25+ flavors), reasonable pricing ($1.50 to $3.50 varying based on size), customer service was excellent.
What I didn’t like: Regular cupcakes seemed small, limited weekend hours. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough cake a little dry.
Conclusion:
Cupcakes are big business, and this niche business segment will continue to grow and expand. Overall, I was very impressed with all 3 of these cupcakeries, and would strongly encourage cupcake fans living or visiting St. Louis to give them a try! Let me know what you think.
the travelpreneur 