I can totally see both sides of this. I work full time and have two kids and a very time consuming hobby , so I wouldn't be able to rush to get a cupcake everyday, but if they were like, really fantastic and I couldn't get it everywhere else, I could see trying to beat the rush every once in a while. It really would be like a "score!" thing like Leah said. I would definately check out the competition, make sure you've got something no one else offers or better than you're competitors if you're considering closing when you're sold out.

What I don't get is, as a business owner, if I know that if I bake X number of cupcakes, and I continually sell out before noon then wouldn't it make sense to bake twice that amount so you can continue to sell well beyond lunch time, and make much more money? Just sayin'.

Well, it depends on what you value. If you'd rather spend the afternoon with your kids, or walking along the beach, or napping, and you can pay your bills with what you're earning before noon, then you've created the perfect life and lifestyle for yourself.

If you want to see $ in the bank and in your retirement account, then you bake more and stay open later.

It's all about the best decisions you make for YOUR life and YOUR biz.

I remember a case study from MBA school. I don't remember the class, but it was a management example and how to motivate an employee. The story went like this:
Manager was talking to an otherwise great employee, who was always on the cusp of being disciplined for attendance. He'd go right to the brink of discipline and then go for a few weeks of showing up every day and then when an "old" absence rolled off, he'd call in again. On average he worked about 4 days a week. The manager asked him, "Why do you miss so much work? Why do you call in so much? Is there a problem I can help you with?" Employee - "No, no real problem. I just can't *quite* make it on four days pay, so some times I have to come in on the fifth day."

not everyone is motivated by $. Some people are motivated by having time off. Some people are motivated by being creative, or being their own boss, etc. etc.

I've just been pointing out, there are lots of questions and lots of legitimate answers.

I still think that it's more important to be INclusive rather than EXclusive. Mark my words, if you become known as the great cupcake place that closes their doors whenever they sell out, there will be some competitor who also makes great cupcakes but who will see that keeping set hours is an opportunity to take the business you lose.

Also, if you are in an area where you find that most of the demographics trend young, then by all means utilize technology to the fullest! But let's face it, cupcakes are kind of a non-generational, albeit trendy-at-the-moment item so I would think that you'd want your marketing to cast as wide a net as possible. That being said, as I mentioned earlier, you can get people through your door once...but what will make them come back? All the twitters and facebook stuff won't make a bit of difference if you're not providing GOOD products with good CUSTOMER SERVICE. And good customer service includes being open at consistent times. If you choose to fly by the seat of your cupcake inventory then that is truly your business. However, as a new business I would think that you would want to make cupcake buying as user-friendly as possible...regardless of the age or techno-savvyness of your customers. Your current audience could be the kind that wear t-shirts, tattoos and piercings out the wazoo just waiting for the next cool thing to happen NOW, but eventually they will become soccer moms and ordinary people--who still like cupcakes! (what's not to like?) And where will these busy people go? Someplace where they've always had a consistently wonderful experience. And that's really the bottom line isn't it?

I think it really is all about which approach you want, how you want to run your business, and who you want your customer base to be. The perceived value of a product like this can be higher because it is seen as the "hot, in thing" and there can be a snowballing demand for the product not just/only/because of the product itself, but because of its hype. We've seen this sort of thing for years every Christmas with the hot new toy. Sometimes that toy really is kind of special, but often times it is all about the hype. The idea that it is both "in" and "hard to get" drive up demand.

In many instances, this seems to be a model for a short lived sort of phenomenon, but obviously, it isn't always that way. Actually, I believe in these situations, a business can often charge MORE for their product because of the demand than if they actually created enough product to answer the demand. Maybe I should go dust off those old college textbooks which show how this works in more technical jargon. At any rate, if you can charge more because of "scarcity" (THAT, I do remember from class), then it does become possible to work less hours and make as much or more than if you worked more. Of course, the key word here is "possible". You gotta be able to pull it off, and pull it off for the long-term.

Okay, so you want advice from someone who actually has a shop in a small to meduim sized town, with a lot of tourists ?

Here it is..If you pay the premium dollars to have your space in a high foot traffic area, then your retail space is your single best advertising, and it is dumb to be closed when people are walking by, especially if it happens to be on a day that is SO BUSY that you actually sell out. Those are your best days. Retail isn't like custom. It's feast or famine. You'll either sell hundreds of cupcakes in a day, or very few. On the days, it is busy, you need to make hay while the sun shines. Let me tell you about last week. The childrens museum two blocks down was hosting a travelling lego exhibition on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. We made of 4000 dollars each of those days, and had crowds in the store until 10 PM. On Tuesday we only made seven hundred. If I used your business plan, I would have turned 12,000 dolars into about 4500. Wouldn't that suck? and BTW Tuesday still would have been just a $700 day. We baked four times each day over the weekend, and yes, we had a few leftovers,but we took them over to the pediatric oncology ward at Children's hospital and made some kids who were having a rough time pretty happy....and BTW, I had just made a crap ton of money that day, so I could afford the donation.

Snarky- do you have a flavor of the day with any of your products? cupcakes? gelatto?

$4,000 that's what I call business!! Good for you

We have a new cupcake bakery here. I haven't been there but there was an artical in the paper about her. She bakes fresh daily, making the flavors she is in the mood for, can get fresh ingredients for and so on.

I think I'd rather go somewhere like that, knowing that any day you go you could get a different flavor rather than knowing I could drive across town and not get anything. I'd stay home, or only go by there if I was ever in the area.

And by offering different flavors it could pull people in more than once a week. They may go in on Monday then come back on Friday just to see what is new flavor wise.

I'm a big fan of the Flavor of the Day idea! There's an awesome cupcakery in New Orleans that does this. When we were there on vacation last summer, we went every day to try the new flavor. We're heading down again in April, and already have "get cupcakes" on our list of things to do!!!

And, no, they don't close when they sell out. The owner or her sister are always popping a fresh batch into the oven when we're there.

Last summer, DH and I were in Chicago. He wanted to go to a Cubs game (that was his part of the trip) and I wanted to do a "cupcake crawl" (that was my part, lol). I made a list of cupcake places that I found online and looked at each places website. There was one I had heard was really good, but when I went to their site, I saw that they closed when they sold out and they were usually out by 1:00. I was so disappointed, but they got crossed off my list. Going there just didn't fit into our plans (or lack there of). We just wanted to take a nice walk through the city, periodically stopping to get a cupcake. I have a feeling that more tourists would react that same way.

I agree with looking at who your target market is and seeing who the majority of your current customers are right now. If you have a lot of SAHM's who are out for the day with their kids at the farmer's market, then closing when you are sold wouldn't be the best idea. If you have a lot of younger people, then the exclusive thing might work.

It seems to me that those places that are constantly sold out by 1 do kind of have set hours.

My daughter and I were in the French Quarter as tourists last week. A friend wanted me to check out Mother's for their bread pudding. The first time we ran across the location, it was closed. Back at the hotel, I looked online and read how busy they always were and that the staff attitude was basically, "Too bad for you. Sit down, wait, the food will get here when we feel like it." We did not return to try that bread pudding.

I wanted to visit a cupcake/custom cake shop while I was there so I looked that up on the 'net, too. The reviews were mixed- either love or hate. I guess they have great product but they have really poor customer service skills. Not willing to be cursed at if I asked a question they didn't like, we did not patronize that place, either.

My last related experience was Cafe du Monde vs. Cafe Beignet. A friend asked me to bring back beignets for her. The morning that we were leaving, I stood in line at "the" place (Cafe du Monde) for 30 minutes. I then left and walked to Cafe Beignet and made my purchase. Over the course of the week, I had beignets at both places so I knew the product tasted exactly the same. I also knew Cafe Beignet would be able to get me in-and-out quickly. I had a 17 hour drive ahead of me and wanted to be home in time to grab a few hours of sleep before leaving to attend a bridal shower the next day. No way was I going to stand in line longer than 30 minutes. Despite being the "in" place, I took my business elsewhere.

Today's "in" thing is tomorrow's bell bottoms and green glitter eyeshadow "I can't believe I did that!" now passe moment.

green glitter eyeshadow! Funny!

I like snarky's method- online listing of the flavor of the month and regular business hours. As my 3 year old says: Me like that. LOL

I'm sure they shut down not because they closed early, but more because they didn't have enough customers coming through the doors in the first place to make ends meet.

My point is, there are some days that demand is going to exceed supply, and vice versa. To think you are going to get it right 100% of the time is unrealistic, and you roll with it. Sure, next time make more. But when more still isn't enough, I'd prefer to close the doors and start again the the next day.

We had the BEST German restaurant as far as food went in our town. It was delish. We have a few of them but this one had a lovely atmosphere. They had really worked hard. You felt as if you were sitting in a little bavarian cafe with a small lovely decorated outside beer garden. I loved the place BUT you'd go there and they'd be closed for no reason. You NEVER knew when they'd be open. It's a shame everyone loved their schnitzel and roladen (?). Anyway the lasted about 3 years and they are gone. I am still sad they are gone but what ended up happening was everyone would make plans to go where they KNEW it was open. Maybe closing early works in some areas but I don't think my area is one of them.

I'm old skool also, hate the cell phone, texting and all that stuff. Nothing irritates me more than to be speaking with someone and have their phone buzz and they pick up to answer or read and resend a message. I guess I'm just not that important to have their full attention for 3 minutes. I walked out on a friend at lunch one day. She was talking on her cell while I was sitting there with FOOD and I got up like I was going to get something and said "call me when you get time". She quickly followed me out and asked me to stay but she learned the lesson. Oh well that didn't have anything about staying open....sorry...I'd have set hours.