February 2015 – Page 2

Looking for the Next Trendy Treat as Cupcakes Go Stale

Posted on February 11, 2015February 24, 2015 by Brenda P. Salinas in Economics

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When Carrie and Miranda visited Magnolia Bakery on “Sex and the City” in 2004, they put gourmet cupcakes on the map.

It wasn’t long before cupcakes started taking over other TV channels, on shows like “DC Cupcakes” and “Cupcake Wars.”

But 10 years later, after countless TV bake-offs, and cupcake store openings on seemingly every street corner, the treats aren’t quite as sweet.

Cupcake giant Crumbs bakery declared bankruptcy.

In 2004, there were nearly 3,000 articles on cupcakes. Last year? 998. And most of them weren’t even about cupcakes. They wanted to know one thing: what’s the next cupcake?

Sweet Wannabees

There’ve been plenty of pretenders. Macaroons in 2011, the cronut in 2013, and last year, the cake pop. All of them began gourmet and became as common as a drive-thru.

And now? Ryan Palmer thinks he’s onto something. He owns Gourdough’s in Austin.

“Basically we found out that we could do anything we want to do with a donut,” Palmer says.

The $6 donuts can be sweet or savory – everything from chicken fried steak to peanut butter and jelly. Palmer says business is just fine.

“Everybody likes fried food,” he says. “Donut’s fried, cupcakes aren’t, makes them extra better.”

But fads can fry out so fast. For every singe success story, there’s been two satisfries. Right?

All About Branding

Brian Herbstreit says the right branding keeps a pastry fresher longer. That’s why he bought into a franchise instead of starting from scratch. “Nothing Bundt Cakes” spent a lot of time up front finding out what customers want.

“Bundtinis are the smallest size, we sell those by the dozen. We have bundlets – bundtlets are about the size of your fist, that’s our version of a cupcake,” Herbstreit says.

Herbstreit thinks the small size, coupled with the combination of nostalgia and trendiness, is an irresistible draw for old and young alike. So where can you catch some of that lightning in a bottle? University of Houston marketing professor Betsy Gelb says the secret to baked success is social – as in Pinterest, Twitter and Tumblr.

“It’s a conversation piece; now you have something to maybe talk about on social media,” Gelb says. “All of that tremendously helps what I call the upstart baker.”

So whatever you buy for your sweetie this Valentine’s Day – make sure to take lots of pictures.

Will 2015 Bring A Shrunken SXSW?

Posted on February 9, 2015February 15, 2015 by Brenda P. Salinas in Business

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South by Southwest is a month away, and like every year, people are declaring it dead before it even starts.

What are the economic implications of big SxSW sponsors like Chevy, Subway and Doritos pulling out this year?

Brands bring in great swag and expensive artists.

Last year Doritos spent a lot of money to have Lady Gaga perform inside this giant vending machine just to have the city of Austin revoke their permit at the last minute.

And this year the Itunes festival will be missing. Last year they brought 40 mainstays to the stage like Coldplay and Pitbull.

With some of the biggest headliners gone, some long-terms attendees are choosing to skip the conference.

This will be the first time in 10 years that George Corona misses SXSW. “I’m not going to South by Southwest because the lineup is just overall pretty weak, specifically I think there seems to be a lot of artists just kind of skipping,” says Corona.

The more people agree with Corona, the more the Texas economy is set to lose. The entire conference had more than 100,000 participants last year. It brought $315 million dollars to Texas.

The consequences could be particularly severe for people who depend on those two weeks in March for business.

Danielle Thomas owns an event production company called Big Green House. She says that there are plenty of signs that things are looking dire.

“I think everybody is feeling some sort of waning in business, but nobody is exactly sure what it is,” says Thomas. “Whether it’s producers, vendors, venues – there are venues that are still available that are normally booked by now, which I think is harbinger.”

And if the revenue to Texas doesn’t match last year’s, a lot of people will be pointing the finger at the city of Austin. It cut event permits this year by 25 percent.

Denise Silverman owns Clink Events in Austin, “I definitely think if they’re limiting the number of permits that its obviously going to affect the amount of revenue that comes into the city.”

But if the festival plateaus or even shrinks this year, it might just be finding its right size.

Last year there was a lot of overcrowding and a tragic hit and run into a crowd. Some event planners are wondering if maybe smaller is better. If so, the conference could be cooler and more profitable than ever. Only time will tell.

You Lost Your Energy Job. Now What?

Posted on February 2, 2015February 20, 2015 by Brenda P. Salinas in Business

Get the full story at the Texas Standard.

It seems like the dire economic predictions about the low cost of gas are starting to materialize: Halliburton, Baker-Hughes, Schlumberger and BP have all announced that they’re slashing jobs in the Houston area.

When the price of gas started dropping below 2 dollars a gallon, all the economic analysts were saying it was bad news for the economy, and this week it really seemed that their predictions started to come true.

Halliburton, Baker-Hughes, Schlumberger and BP have all announced that they’re slashing jobs in the Houston area.

Baker-Hughes says it will lay off 7,000 workers. The other companies are keeping mum about exactly how many local jobs are going to get cut.

But pink slips are going out.

So where do all of these displaced energy workers go?

Tim Jeffcoat was laid off from Schulmberger in 2001 and now he’s the district director of the small business association in Houston.

He says people in the energy sector have skills that transfer easily to other industries,

“There are certain sectors that are really dynamic, healthcare, transportation,” but he says the knowledge acquired in the field can turn into to a consulting gig, “say an engineer that works for one of these firms that has a lot of experience in petroleum engineering might want to set up a consulting shop and do business with companies in other countries.”

But if you want to cut your ties form energy completely, you can follow Christi Johnson Lopez’s lead. She worked for a natural gas company that was acquired by Kinder Morgan 18 months ago. When she got laid off she decided to start her own interior design company.

She says the transition is scary, but ultimately worth it. “At that very moment it is so scary, you can’t even think beyond oh the severance package, what are we going to do, how are we going to save, how are we going to do this, and all of a sudden you’re like maybe I can try this, what do I have to lose? Let me just take this little leap,” says Johnson Lopez.

She says she doesn’t make nearly as much as she used to, but she sets her own schedule and her stress migraines went away.

Based on what the experts say, laid of energy sector employees should look to fields like healthcare or transportation, or they can take the opportunity to cut their ties from the energy industry altogether – if they can afford it.