With a $10 million investment and a slew of new stores, we predict big things for the Compost Cookie creator.
America isn’t lacking when it comes to food-led chain stores. In fact it may well be the capital, as the home to Starbucks, Cinnabon, McDonald’s and the like. And while the Star-Spangled nation’s newest rising empire may be just as sugar-saturated as its fellow chains, it follows a far more artisanal pursuit.
We are of course talking of Milk Bar, the David Chang-owned, Christina Tosi-led enterprise that put Compost Cookies and sprinkle-scattered ‘Birthday Cake’ on the map. Milk Bar has just hit the big leagues, reports The New York Times. It was via a recently published profile on the very talented dessert-minded Tosi that it was revealed just how large the brand’s ambitions really are.
In the past year alone, Milk Bar’s employees have risen in number by 70 percent to number 381. The Milk Bar stores now number at 16 across America, with its latest opening in Massachusetts and its next expected an impressively elaborate space in the New York Ace Hotel. This latter is set to be the intended flagship for the brand, and will boast a build-your-own dessert station, as well as a mini bodega.
The ample new sugar palace will be partly paid for by the recent $10 million received from investors. We are not the only ones who doubt that this will be just the start of ongoing expansion, with trade journal QSR naming Milk Bar “one of the most innovative fast-casual start-ups in the country.”
Milk Bar’s success has also seen it move company headquarters from a Williamsburg basement to a space in Manhattan’s NoMad, where Tosi’s assembled management team includes former employees of both Chobani and Coke.
And while fans may fear that Milk Bar is selling out, Tosi is more than aware of striking the perfect balance between expansion and saturation. “Growing fast feels like selling out, but I realised if we controlled the growth it could be really cool, too,” she told The New York Times, confirming that bricks-and-mortar outposts will be strategic, and Milk Bar certainly won’t be on every corner. I sat with it and lost a lot of sleep over it and finally I was just like, ‘That’s just not what we are,’” she commented.
With Chicago and Miami next on Tosi’s hit list we have no doubt that Milk Bar is ready to take American tastebuds hostage, one Crack Pie at a time.
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