Crumbs Bake Shop closes all cupcake stores in US

Cupcake chain Crumbs Bake Shop has said it will shut all its shops, a week after its shares were suspended from trading on the Nasdaq index.

“Regrettably Crumbs has been forced to cease operations,” it said.

The company said it was now evaluating “its limited remaining options”.

Crumbs listed on the stock market in 2011 at the height of the cupcake boom.

It had 65 shops in 12 states and Washington DC as of the end of March, according to its website.

Crumbs, which was founded in 2003, sold cupcakes in flavors such as red velvet cheesecake, peanut butter cup and cookie dough, with some of them containing more than 600 calories.

It sold the cupcakes in sizes varying from a one-inch taster cake to its “colossal” six-inch cake serving six to eight people.

Its fortunes began to decline as its cake sales slowed.

Crumbs reported a loss of $18.2 million last year, which came on top of a $10.3 million loss in 2012.

The company warned in May in an official filing that it “may be forced to curtail or cease its activities” if its operations did not generate enough cash flow.

As of the end of last year, Crumbs listed 165 full-time employees and about 655 part-time hourly employees as working in its stores.