NEW YORK CITY—Like a delicate soufflé ruined by the opening of an oven door, a plan to try to try and save Crumbs Bake Shop Inc.—the cupcake concern that shuttered all 48 of its stores across the nation on Monday—may fall flat.
TV personality Marcus Lemonis—who saves businesses from closing down on CNBC's “The Profit”—has come up with a plan to save the beloved pastry maker, but the rescue effort may be dead on arrival.
The New York-based Crumbs reported a $15.4 million loss from operations for 2013. And, dovetailing with Thursday's news of Lemonis' teaming with loan broker Fischer Enterprises to keep Crumbs from crumbling, Nasdaq filed notice of the bakery's delisting, notes the New York Post.
The exchange already had suspended trading in the shares of Crumbs — valued at $66 million when it went public in April 2011 — because the company no longer met its minimum stockholders equity requirement of $2.5 million.
Oklahoma-based Fischer, which two years ago bought ice-cream maker Dippin' Dots out of bankruptcy, was already involved with Crumbs before Lemonis entered as a potential savior. It gave the bakery a $5 million credit facility earlier this year, leaving it with plenty of incentive to help engineer a turnaround.
Early reports suggest the market couldn't be happier with the pair's 11th-hour attempt at a save. Crumbs' stock price rose 1,200% Thursday – from three cents to 40 cents—as investors' hunger was sated with word of plans of that mission whet the appetites of investors.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
