Bus Stops: The competition between Sprinkles or Crumbs as the 'better' bakery
By Arit John
March 1, 2011 8:14 p.m.
This week I visited Sprinkles and Crumbs for my column and tried to decide which was “better.” It was very much like trying to decide whether I prefer cookies or brownies ““ they’re similar, but they have very different approaches to how they serve your sweet tooth. To help make the decision a little easier, I came up with a list of similarities and differences to help me tell them apart.
Variety
As far as flavors go, both places are equally matched. Who’s to say Sprinkle’s Chai Latte (spiced chai tea cake with chai-vanilla frosting, served on Friday only) is more or less original than Crumb’s Half Baked (a marble cake covered in two types of frosting and pieces of brownie and cookie).
Where Crumbs pulls ahead is in its sizes and the rest of its offerings. Sprinkles has cupcakes, the end. Crumbs sells cookies, muffins, pastries and whoopie pies.
(+ 1 Crumbs)
Size and cost
At Sprinkles you can get one cupcake size, and it costs $3.50. A dozen cupcakes costs $39.
At Crumbs you can get three different sizes cupcakes: taste, classic and signature. The prices vary between ordering online and at the store, but on average a 12-pack of taste cupcakes costs $18, classics are almost $4 each and signature cupcakes are about $4.50 each. Then there are the $35 colossal cupcakes that could feed a dorm room for an entire week.
In the end this goes back to topics of variety, though it’s nice to know exactly how much everything costs. And Sprinkles doesn’t rate one cupcake above another by charging more for it.
(No points to either store)
Dietary restrictions
While in line at Sprinkles I met a woman who said she was excited for gluten-free cupcakes, which you can only find at Sprinkles. Crumbs has no gluten-free or vegan products at this time.
(+ 1 Sprinkles)
What am I missing? Can there be a clear winner?
