Are the Salad Days Over for Single-Item Restaurants Like Crumbs?

Cupcakery's failure shows how a hot fad can burn restaurateurs

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Yesterday, the remaining assets of the once-proud restaurant chain called Crumbs went into a bankruptcy auction. TV host Marcus Lemonis scooped up—forgive us—the crumbs left from Crumbs for $6.5 million. Lemonis hopes to revive the cupcake outpost, albeit as a different and smaller version of the 48-unit, 12-state chain that collapsed suddenly last month, leaving many to wonder how an eatery that was so popular could disappear so fast.

As it turns out, there were many reasons for the crumbling of Crumbs, ranging from supply issues (Crumbs relied entirely on contracted commercial bakeries) to an ill-starred IPO in 2011.

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