FuManChu CupCakes, the Plaza Midwood bakery known for its cupcakes made with alcohol, will close on Sunday. Owner Andy Jackson says he was only given the opportunity to sign three-year leases, and now that his latest lease is up, he can’t afford the new rent.

“The rents keep going up so much that you can’t stay in business when you’re as small as we are,” he says.

FuManChu is in the plaza behind Moo & Brew, near The Hop Shop, off Central Avenue. Jackson has been in the space for six years; the storefront opened five years ago. With rising rent and rising food costs, Jackson faces an issue many restaurants and food establishments struggle with: shrinking margins. Add in the cost of alcohol to the cupcakes, and you have an even smaller margin.

So the bakery will close for good on Sunday, whenever the cupcakes sell out. Jackson plans to shut down the business’s LLC once a few remaining orders are fulfilled. He’s not sure what he’ll do next, though he’s pretty certain he won’t open another storefront. His wife and daughter were the only remaining employees left at the shop, and Jackson says they’re all in desperate need of some time off after being open seven days a week with only three days off for holidays over the last two years.

“We’re all tired,” he says, “So we’re gonna take a month or so to get everything figured out.”

Since announcing the closure yesterday, Jackson says the shop has been busy, with a lot of first-time customers saying they’ve been meaning to come in but didn’t get a chance. It’s a reminder for us to spend money at the places we want to stay open.

Jackson is already in the process of selling his kitchen equipment.

“It’s hard,” he says of the closure. “It’s all I’ve known for, really, the last five years, six years. So there’s a major loss, but it’s time for a rest and maybe we can redo or come up with a better way to do this.” —Kristen Wile

 

 

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