November 18, 2005
Citypaper Takes a Look Inside the Cakelove
Of all the touchy topics we write about, one business is consistantly able to stoke the passion of our readers more than any other: Warren Brown's CakeLove. Our previous posts about the rapidly growing U Street business have sparked heated controversy. Some of you like the cake, others think he's overpriced or overrated, while still others have decidedly more negative opinions. Our approach is nuanced -- while some of us enjoy his products, others have reservations about certain aspects of his business.
In their cover story this week the Washington City Paper examines the business and concludes "CakeLove isn’t all about the cake" and instead the "love" and "passion" the company talks about so much are the key to its success which they describe as a "rapidly growing empire." For longtime Brown observers the article shouldn't contain any major revelations, however it does contain some interesting tidbits. Washington Post reporter Judith Weinraub sees in Brown a story that strikes a chord with D.C., telling the paper that "'He offers an alternate way of being in this city, and very few people have the courage to try that, so that’s enormously powerful,' she says. 'And he’s also really cute, too.' " Brown's cuteness aside, City Paper's Mike DeBonis concludes Brown was able to "build a business on a product that’s denser, drier, less sweet than most people are accustomed to" by crafting a carefully honed image of a former lawyer who dropped his bureaucratic job to pursue his "passion," described at length on the Cakelove website. What do you think? And remember kids, play nice in the comments.
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I'll try not to get too nasty. So the consensus is:
1. Bland Product
2. Merciless talking-point marketing
3. Desire for power and ubiquity ala Walmart and Starbucks.
Sounds like typical DC, neigh, typical US capitalism to me.
But who cares? The show will fail eventually. You will not be seeing a CakeLove on every streetcorner. It's all so played already.
I'll tell you what really gets my goat: Busboys and Poets. Who do they think they're kidding? More like Fakes and Phonies.
hmm..i'd say it has a lot of potential, its already got the marketing and word of mouth. I think its time they start making their sweets tastier! is this about starting a business or making a yummy product?
I commend Warren Brown just as much as the next guy for the local empire he is building with passion, love, and cupcakes. However, it is never worth going into Love Cafe for my favorite german chocolate treat when the service is so slow, the queue confusing to both customer and employee, and the baristas are mean mean mean. Its a soul searching pep talk just to stand in line and/or wait 30 minutes for a cupcake, latte, and accompanying dose of rude, horrific customer service. I'd rather just go to the Starbucks down the street and get my latte with a fake corporate smile then endure the sardonic "passion" and adversive "love" of Warren Brown's empire. PS: Every piece of furniture in that coffee house in uncomfortable.
Matt: "Consensus"? Isn't that a term usually meant to describe more than one opinion?
Even if I didn't like Brown's cakes (which I do - with some reservations) or had a problem with his marketing approach (which - prices aside, I don't), I'd give him credit for being an entrepreneur genuinely trying to grow something right here in DC. That type of spirit *is* too rare in this city, where the economy is driven largely (if not almost entirely) by the government, professional services firms, and government contractors (the latter two basically being here because of the government in the first place). In your book, someone wanting to grow a business from one or two locations must already be on the slippery slope towards Wal-Mart-esque Exploitationsville. They should be content to eke out a living from their mom-and-pop storefront, I guess, while the rest of the area suckles on the government teat.
Oh, and thanks for chiming in with your hatred of Busboys, too. Anyone else not making Matt's Christmas card list we should know about?
I love Busboys AND CakeLove! HOLLA!!!
I'm a native Washingtonian, and I'm embarrassed by "phenomena" such as CakeLove. DC has many things on its side, but Washingtonians often struggle to find something "unique" that visitors would find interesting and different. I've seen this before, and Cakelove is a perfect example of Washingtonians reaching for a food item in the District they can call "great" and call it their own. We try and try...telling people about the "phenomenal" half-smokes at Ben's, or god forebid, the huge slice of poo found on 18th street. The point is, just because we can call it our own, doesn't mean we have to call it good.
Really, Rob?
An article in CityPaper hardly constitutes a good reason for bringing up Ye Olde Cakelove Debate again. The next time something HAPPENS, like a new location opening, or his show getting good ratings, or his show being canceled...then you have a STORY, and a forum starter.
But this? It's kind of sad when DCist "pot-stirring" has a flour-and-sugar base.
I love it when people complain that a topic isn't "worthy" of discussion in a blog. I mean ... it's a blog.
I look at a post like this as a way of saying, "Here's a topic we've gone over in the past ... now you can read a long, more journalistic article about the same subject." Well, that and an opportunity to point out that DCist writers and commenters aren't the only ones who have complained about the actual quality of the CakeLove in question . . .
I've never tried CakeLove, so I don't have an opinion on the taste, but I do find it intriguing that people often reply to complaints about the food with arguments about business savvy, story-telling, role models, urban renewal, local pride, and a whole host of other, totally non-food related issues. As far as I know, the "negativity" expressed has never been about Mr. Brown, his business plan, or his role in building local pride ... some people just don't think the cake is all that great.
It's not cakelove per se, but love cafe can be rated here.
No entries for bus boys and poets though. What's the scoop there. Should it be listed?
I think the cake is great. I love the frosting. I heart the variety of flavor and flavor combinations.
What can I say-- I really want to like Cakelove, the story behind the owner is cool and the idea of a unique DC place is attractive. Unfortunately, it's just not good. Sorry folks, but stale Entemans cakes have more moisture than a Cakelove cupcake. I keep coming back to see if I just hit it on an "off" day to no avail. Maganolia Bakery and Buttercup Bake Shop, both idependant and in NYC, blow this place away. Just because your're not a chain doesn't make you good.
The most compliments I've ever gotten for a DC store-bought cake was when I got a chocolate sheet cake at the Georgetown Safeway for a birthday party. Everyone said how good it was and asked me where I got it. I was almost embarrassed to say Safeway.
I paid three times a much for a cakelove cake for another party (that fed half as many people) and nobody said a word about it.
I'm not hatin' on cakelove or the story...I'm just a guy who knows his cake (and eats it too).
"As far as I know, the "negativity" expressed has never been about Mr. Brown, his business plan, or his role in building local pride"
Nate - check out the first post on this thread. Unfortunately, it's never just about the cake.
Sorry, I should have said "it's not *always* just about the cake."
Interesting. Busboys hate is challenging Cakelove hate as the new black. However, I sense that most are holding something back. We'll endeavor to suss out Busboys and Poets take on popped collars--pro or con?--and see if that doesn't open the floodgates.* In the meantime, let's not lose sight of what's important. Which is that Clarendonites love to urinate all over Adams Morgan. Apparently.
*Can "floodgates" hold back shallowness? Discuss.
If only there were a way to have a DCist article about CakeLove, Jonathan Rees, and the commuter tax.
Yes they do - literally and figuratively.
To fully capitalize on the potential that's out there, you'd have to toss in an offhand remark about how the new baseball stadium might not, in fact, be the greatest thing since sliced bread. Intelligent Design:Kansas::Dogmatic Nats Fans:DCist.
Don't forget a restaurant review that includes a) the smoking policy and b) whether vegetarian entrees are available.
Oooh. Spot on, Matt. Good call.
As one of those "Dogmatic Nat Fans" who's ripped the coverage on this site, that analogy pisses me off.
See, this ties in one more conceit of most DCist threadwars -- the person who takes offense at any little slight, and who thinks that everything is about him.
What’s with all of the negativity towards Cakelove and Busboys and Poets. Please tell me DC is not one of those cities where people are jealous of anything popular and successful. I have friends who live all over NYC and every one of them thinks that their neighborhood has the best this or the best that. Whenever I try one of these recommendations, I am usually underwhelmed. But it strikes me that the bragging is not so much about how good the product is, but about neighborhood pride. When are folks in DC going to get some of that? It seems that sometimes we are our own worst enemy in promoting the image of our city as “not all that.” Our city is a big tourist destination but one of the biggest obstacles we face is getting people to leave downtown and the national mall and get into our neighborhoods where, if they spend money, we actually get some benefit as opposed to if they hung out in museums the whole time. But if we don’t think we have anything worth seeing outside of the monuments, certainly no one else is going to think so.
After going to Busboys and Poets for the first time I came home and called a friend who lives in the Bay Area and who I knew would be excited about my Nikki Giovanni sighting. I told her all about the café and her reaction was, “Wow, that sounds like a great place. I think we have similar things, but nothing exactly like that. I’ll have to keep that in mind for the next time I’m in DC.” I took that same friend to Love Café when she visited earlier in the year and she’s still talking about it. I’m sure it’s not because SHE thought it was any better than anything else, but because I thought it was. You see what I’m saying? I’m not even a DC native but I talk up this city like it’s the best thing going. And as far as I’m concerned, it is. Just like all my friends in NYC think that the takeout Chinese in their neighborhood is the best Chinese takeout in the free world. It doesn’t REALLY have to be the best, but it matters that YOU think it’s worth something. It’s just a much better and more positive attitude than this “It’s not all THAT. What DC could really use is (fill in the blank with thing that does not exist here or anywhere and never will).” Have some pride in what small business owners in DC are trying to do. There are a lot worse sins than not having the best cupcakes ever!
Yawn
I'd never heard of CakeLove before the City Paper article, so I came into this with an open mind. What struck me was how the article went on and on and on, with nothing but a lot of fawning fluff.
'CakeLove’s product looks good, is made by good-looking people, and has a good story behind it. Does it even matter how it tastes?'
What kind of stupid question is that? Taste is the *only* thing that matters. (Well, that plus the stores' prices & customer service.) The CP article was too busy talking about the 'passion' nonsense to give me a useful review.
'We’re reporters; we knew right away this was a great story.'
Uh, no, it isn't. So whats-his-name is a lawyer-turned-baker. So what? A 1992 poll by California Lawyer magazine found that 70 percent of attorneys said they would start a new career if they could. Some studies indicate that as many lawyers leave the field each year as enter it. This is not a 'man bites dog' story; it's a 'ho hum' one.
'He's cute too.'
Oh puhleeze. Saving the fawning 'he's so dreamy' crap for Tiger Beat magazine. I don't know the guy and I have nothing against him, but by the time I finished the article, my mouth wasn't drooling; I was gagging on the cloying sicky-sweetness, and I had a lot less respect for the City Paper's journalistic quality.
does it really matter how dry, crumbly and bland Cakelove's cake is (and it is)? bc dude Warren has unwittingly duped a city as a whole and its curmudgeonly paper into thinking it's the greatest thing evah. and THAT is genius.
"the City Paper's journalistic quality"?
snort.
Ah, more Cakelove rants and raves. You know what I really want to hear? It's the alleged womanizing and hardcore partying (drugs?) behind Mr. Cakelove himself.
I was secretly hoping the City Paper would dig into those rumors, but they failed to pique my interest.
But I've heard those rumors from different mouths.
while we're on the topic of favorite DCist topics, would it be safe to say that the people who bubble:
"I heart the variety of flavor and flavor combinations."
are the same unctuous ones who engage in butterstick fawning?
if so, way cool!
Silver Springer, I think you missed the point of the article. The reporter was saying that without Warren Brown's backstory and "passion" mantra and even the name "CakeLove" he would not be as successful. Let's face it. The taste of that cake alone would not have got him on Oprah. So, is his fame about the cake? No. Whether you've bought into his genius marketing plan or not, thousands have and they flock to CakeLove because it's seen as hip and cool and fun ... or something. It's not about the cake. That said, I'm not against CakeLove. I think it's a genius idea. And for those of you debating the taste of the cake, read the entire City Paper article. It does a good job of explaining how old-school and fat-filled CakeLove's cake and icings are and why many people don't like the taste because we grew up on much creamier and richer cakes.
Y'all are nuts. the Cakelove cakes are REAL cakes, not that duncan hines Plastic-In-The-Mix overmoist junk. If you don't like it, don't go there, but they make the nicest cakes around.
the City Paper wouldn't know food if they tried. period.
And again, if anyone can find me a better sage buzzball that Warren made one time, I'd buy it. If anyone makes a better sweet sage anything in DC, let me know.
Anyone who thinks that City Paper article was a love letter to Warren Brown and CakeLove clearly wasn't reading very closely.
Honestly, I haven't read the city paper article because I feel like I already know everything I have any interest in knowing about Love Cafe/Cake Love from checking out the website. While I do like all of the products I've tried from Love Cafe (particularly the strawberry shortcake), I wonder if anyone loves Love Cafe as much as the owner loves himself.