Thursday, October 1, 2009

Cupcakes in the Middle East

First glance at Sugar Daddy Bakery's website and you wouldn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Cute logo, list of cupcake flavors offered, and pictures of cakes/cupcakes. Click on branches and you will see one location listed as Abdoun Kurdi plaza. Where is that? Oh, it's in Jordan. Really?! Yes.


I came across this article from nytimes.com about Fadi Jaber and the story of his first cupcake shop in Amman, Jordan. It's a pretty interesting read so I suggest you check it out. Fadi always had a love for American desserts, but fell in love with cupcakes when he tried a vanilla vanilla from Magnolia Bakery in New York City in 2004. Long story short: in 2007 he opened the first cupcake shop in the Middle East. It was a hit! He has since opened two other locations in Beirut and Dubai.


Cupcakes are definitely a luxury item in Lebanon and Jordan. Even though the cupcakes sell for only $2 each, the per capita GDP is $11,100 and $5,000 respectively (nytimes.com).

I'm happy to see that the cupcake "craze" is catching on in non-American countries. Not sure if I'll find myself in the Middle East any time soon, but if I do, I know where to go!

P.S. Thanks to Toni for sending me the link to this article!

2 comments:

Joni said...

WOW!

Cupcake Activist said...

I agree...it's pretty amazing to see cupcakes in far away place. I bet it would make me feel at home.

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