A Butch Bakery Storefront and Cookbook Are Coming
Right now, Butch produces an average of 350-400 cupcakes per week, though that number fluctuates around the holidays -- "we're expecting Father's Day to be really big" -- and whenever the media pauses to notice what the bakery's doing. Once the bakery opens, Arrick hopes to churn out 1,000 per week.
Despite being marketed to the XY crowd, the majority of Arrick's customers are women: "I'd say 80 percent of business is women buying for their husband's 35th birthday," Arrick says. "It makes perfect sense that you'd buy a dozen or half-dozen for a guy's birthday, especially if there's beer or whiskey in them. I don't expect some stockbroker to be picking up the phone, necessarily. I mean, look who's supporting the cupcake market: It's women." That said, he's also been getting a number of corporate clients, banks and law firms who like their cupcakes "masculine and streamlined."
On the subject of the masculine and streamlined, Arrick admits that not everyone has been a fan of his brand of niche marketing. "I've gotten mail saying, 'Why do you have to segregate men from women?' But you can't take this so seriously. It's just frosting and cake."
Also, there's that name. "People think it's a lesbian thing," Arrick admits. "And certainly, we mean no offense to lesbians; we love the LGBT community. But we want to take the word 'butch' back," he jokes. "What about Butch Cassidy? He's not a lesbian."
And besides, the sexual identities of fictional screen personalities notwithstanding, "if I'd called it Dave's Bakery, what are the chances I would have gotten this far?"
Email to Friend
Write to Editor
Print Article
