Crumbs Bake Shop sudden closure (2014)
New York cupcake chain Crumbs Bake Shop shuttered all of its roughly 48 stores in July 2014, locking locations with little notice to customers or staff. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy before being acquired.
Employees in some locations were left unpaid and franchisees were stranded.
The case became a symbol of how quickly a once-popular food brand can vanish.
Shows how a food business can disappear from public view suddenly and with little warning, much as the Saint Paul Spice Company's license has vanished from the state list.
