Johnny Cupcakes

Customers like and appreciate the story and work ethic behind my brand. I started this as a joke from the trunk of my beat up '89 Toyota Camry. A college drop out with a drug and alcohol-free lifestyle, I never wasted my time going out and partying but instead focused only on brainstorming and sketching up my wacky ideas. I turned down investors and took countless risks like keeping my shirts out of chain stores.

Yeah, once I became better known I could have made a TON of money real quick, but instead I chose quality over quantity.

I'd rather have a strong brand filled with knowledgeable customers who truly enjoy and appreciate what I've created instead of making a quick buck– being just another fad. People like what nobody else has, and I love coming out with limited edition, exclusive shirts rather than mass-producing things. Once a shirt is sold out, I never produce them again.

I hang out with my customers, talk to them, and build memorable experiences with them at my in-store events and through the little details that I put into everything. Paying attention to my customers and treating them as individuals just makes sense to me– I wouldn't be here without them!

Most companies try to cut as many corners so that they can to turn a better profit.

I do the exact opposite and pay very close attention to all the little things.

Without selling out, I've managed to build a multi-million dollar business, completely homegrown. And I've done it without going your typical route. No college education, no start up loans, no investors, no wholesaling or help from giant stores, and little-to-no advertising. I've managed to employ both of my parents, my sister, my neighbor, and all of my close friends so that they don't have to work jobs they don't enjoy.

My untraditional way of going about business has led to a huge international cult following for my brand.

You'll see hundreds of dedicated people in line at my releases– even tons of people with Johnny Cupcakes tattoos! Most of my customers are repeat customers. Every type of person collects, understands, and appreciates my obscure brand– chefs, bakers, fashionable people, college students, artsy kids, thugs, indie rockers, designers, skaters, sneaker heads, food enthusiasts, and people of all ages.

This didn't all happen over night, and I didn't get lucky with some random idea– I got off my bum and did something with myself. My name is Johnny, and I make clothes with cupcakes on ‘em. Have you had your cupcake today?

When I was growing up, I'd always notice my mom being stressed/bummed out about her 9-5 job. Ever since, I've been coming up with little ways to work for myself. Lemonade stands to yard sales, magic tricks at kids birthday parties to selling tricks and pranks in high school.

I used to be a class clown. I'd buy and collect tons of pranks from this one joke shop. I bought so many that the owner gave me a catalog so that I could purchase the pranks wholesale. I'd buy whoopie cushions, trick candy, and itching powder in bulk to make little 'prank packs'. I'd then sell these prank packs to the kids at my high school. One day I sold itching powder to this kid Dan who put it all down his friend's shirt. Turned out his friend was highly allergic to some ingredient of itching powder. His back swelled up with hives, and he had to be rushed to the emergency room! This little prank almost got me kicked out of high school.

After returning back from my suspension, I decided to sell something else... (get your mind out of the gutter!) My new hobby then became selling candy.

I'd take trips to Costco, BJ's, and Walmart to buy candy in bulk. After being the candy man for a little while, my high school almost got me in trouble again for selling far more candy than the school store did since the school stores profits funded all sorts of different school functions.

I graduated high school and tried out college. I wasn’t sure it was the right decision as the time. I have borderline A.D.D. so focusing was always an issue for me. Also I can't really participate in the most common college sport (i.e. partying) because I don't drink or do drugs.

Less than a semester later I decided to take a break from school. I then started up a pin business designing pins, buttons, and badges for bands and businesses. I made random designs and sold them at hardcore shows and various shops. I even had a small crew of kids that would buy them from me wholesale and sell them at their schools. I began keeping a nice little database of all my clients.

In addition to the pins, I worked once or twice a week at a silk screening shop as well as a record shop called "Newbury Comics". Almost every day when I went into work, I was given a different, completely random nickname for no reason whatsoever. I guess Johnny is an easy name to throw just about any word at the end of it? 'Johnny Appleseed', 'Johnny Coffeecakes', 'Johnny Cupcakes', 'Johnny Pancakes', etc... While working at the silk screening shop making t-shirts for the metal/hardcore band I use to be in, I thought it would be funny to make a couple random shirts that said 'Johnny Cupcakes' on them for the fun of it. So I did.

Wearing my Johnny Cupcakes t-shirt to work caused quite a commotion. Not only did everyone I work with want a t-shirt but most of the customers wanted one as well! While at work, I'd get heaps of compliments, questions, smiles, and requests for my t-shirt (even from the slightly miserable or quiet regulars!). "What's Johnny Cupcakes?," "Is that a local bakery?," "Is that an adult movie store?," and so on.

Supply and demand! I ordered a couple dozen Johnny Cupcakes shirts and sold out of them the day I took them off the press! One person would tell ten people and ten people would tell one hundred people.

So many random kids would come into Newbury Comics to ask me for these Johnny Cupcakes t-shirts. A couple times a day, nearly every day I'd have to pretend to go to the bathroom so I could sneak out and sell gear out of the rusty, dented trunk of my beat up '89 Toyota Camry.

So I started brainstorming and sketching up lots of different ideas, doodles, designs, etc... I began poking fun at pop culture by replacing familiar icons with cupcakes! Things like a Statue of Liberty holding a cupcake instead of a torch or a jet plane dropping cupcakes instead of bombs. At the time the skull and crossbones thing was all over the place, so I thought it would be funny to replace the skull with a cupcake.

That t-shirt seemed to be the most bold, creative, and memorable t-shirt out of all the different random shirts I was releasing.

Some of my original customers were in bands and toured as well. They would wear cupcake gear across the globe in photo shoots and in their music videos. That built up a lot of both national and international curiosity and familiarity with Johnny Cupcakes. The band I was in, On Broken Wings, finally got signed to a record label and we began to tour full time. I'd bring t-shirts on tour and sell them out of my crusty suitcase.

On tour I'd wake up super early (sometimes even pull all nighters) so that I could get into the cities and main shopping spots of every state we played. I'd go into different boutiques with my wrinkled, gas scented (hahaha) sample t-shirts to see if the buyers for the stores would be interested in carrying them. Even though I got laughed at and turned down a bunch, I didn't give up. Keeping at it, I was still able to create a strong little database like the one I had for my pin business. With every store order I received, I would call my house and have my mom and little sister fill these orders and take them to the post office.

When I'd get home from tour I would cash my checks and re-invest the money into more t-shirts, better quality threads, and more colorful designs.

Packing my suitcase with 98% cupcake t-shirts, I began to start selling them at a lot of the shows we played from the back of our van. At some shows I'd even sell more Johnny Cupcakes t-shirts than the band did with their merchandise. Without advertising or anything like that, these kids knew who I was and what I did. They'd search for me at every show. A strong Johnny Cupcakes following developed in just about every state. I'd call it a cupcake-cult following. Some kids would collect every shirt, every colorway, etc...

I finally got my first website and web store up and running! I was then that things started to pick up a little faster. I was blown away about how many people visited my site and how sales kept growing and growing. My parents' house was 80% boxes of shirts. They literally had to move boxes in order to open the refrigerator, various closets, or even to get to the bathroom!

I started doing things like using better t-shirts and getting my own satin tags made and sewn into all these shirts. I also started paying closer attention to the details in all of my products. When packing these orders, I'd always throw in little random items. Toys, candy, notes, batteries, money, pins, stickers, vintage trading cards. Taking time to hand pack these orders and throw in one random vintage trading card would put an extra smile on everyone's face (so long as they don't eat that stale stick of gum from decades ago)!

I continued touring, hustling, and building a slightly bigger database of quality shops to sell my shirts in. Nearly half of the stops asked me if I'd be at the Magic or Pool trade shows. I had no clue what these trade shows were all about, so I did some research. Turns out that twice a year these fashion trade shows take place in Las Vegas. Thousands of buyers and owners of boutiques all over the world fly out for the weekend to pick up new brands for their shops. A lot of magazines go to do write ups on new brands as well. These trade shows cost an arm and a leg...but you gotta spend an arm and a leg to make more arms and legs.

I didn't want to half ass both the band and my clothing line, so I decided to put 110% into Johnny Cupcakes. It was a big decision to leave touring with some of your close friends, eating junk food, playing video games, and meeting and performing in front of interesting people. It felt like the right decision for me to depart and take this Johnny Cupcakes risk-- so I did.

I had two months to get ready for my first trade show. Since first impressions are everything, I had to prepare myself. I decided to order chef outfits for my friends and I to wear and to give out real cupcakes to buyers. I also threw together a quick little catalog with my photographer and good friend, Dave. I finally flew off to Vegas where I met many great people and learned a lot. The trip was very successful-- I ended up getting carried by shops in Japan, Europe, and Canada in addition to a few other U.S. locations. I was really excited to have something I created and worked really hard on be seen all over the world!

I ended up flying out to the same trade show again that year. On the last day of the show, I saw a lot of people wearing the same sneakers as I had on. I said to myself, "I don't really like having something that everyone else has." This got me thinking that maybe I shouldn't have my t-shirts all over the place. People like what nobody else has. I'd rather have a brand with longevity and character than selling my soul for some quick cash. It was right then that I decided to rip up my orders and pull my t-shirts from the stores that were carrying them. I ended up turning down big offers to carry my brand from Urban Outfitters, Nordstrom, Hot Topic, Macy's, Metropark, and lots more.

Everyone thought I was out of my mind for doing this, but I knew it was the right choice; it was another risk I was willing to take.

I decided to make all of my t-shirts limited and exclusive, only selling them through my website. Some shirts would be more limited than others and a few of them would even be hand-numbered! Once I would sell out of a t-shirt, I would never make it again. Making these decisions was probably the most valuable thing that I've done for my company. It makes what I sell more than just t-shirts. It's collectible, limited, and wearable art.

On my free time I would have "Cupperwear Parties" at different houses, schools, apartments, clubs, and salons. The idea was similar to that of a Tupperware Party. Someone who wanted to host a party would contact me, and we'd set up a date and a time. The host would make invitations as well as cupcakes for the event. On the day of the party I would come by, roll out my shirts and wireless credit card machine, and I'd talk to everyone about how I got my company started. It was fun to hold these Cupperwear Parties, but soon I became unbelievably busy and so no longer had the time.

I opened my very first Johnny Cupcakes shop in my hometown of Hull, Massachusetts. My dad and I completely refurbished and transformed an old boat garage into a little boutique store, offices, and a warehouse. At first it was going to be for just storage so that my parents could actually live in their house without having to climb over boxes of t-shirts. But I ended up killing like three or four birds with one stone to make use of all the space I had.

Next I opened up shop on "Boston's Rodeo drive"-- 279 Newbury Street. The same street as stores like Marc Jacobs, Chanel, Armani, Nike Town, Burberry, Urban Outfitters, French Connection, H&M, and lots more. Opening this store was a dream come true.

My dad and I sometimes would spend 16 hour days at the Newbury Street shop working on its makeover. We installed new wooden floors, plumbing, painting, trim, storage, and more. On our lunch breaks, we'd sit on the stairs and listen to all the people pass by happily talking amongst one other about how great it's going to be for Newbury Street to finally have a cupcake bakery. My dad and I would laugh to ourselves and, if asked, we'd sometimes pretend that it was indeed going to be a cupcake shop. I guess I still had that jokester inside of me!

Rather than going the cheap route by getting generic displays at IKEA, I decided to go all out by creating and buying vintage bakery equipment, transforming my shop into an old-fashioned bakery. T-shirts displayed in refrigerators, baking trays, and curved glass bakery cases, window displays that read “0% CARBS, 0% FAT, 0% SUGARS” or “Freshly Baked!,” hidden vanilla scented car fresheners to give off a tasty aroma, custom pastry boxes rather than plastic bags, a nutrition facts sign for the sizing chart, and lots more. Building a memorable experience for my customers was important to me, even if I had to go broke doing it.

Over 600 kids waited in line for the grand opening of the Johnny Cupcakes Newbury Street store many of whom had been there since very early in the morning. Some customers even drove 9 hours from Toronto, Canada! The line grew even larger and maintained its size over the whole day and into the evening. Since I was only expecting maybe 20 kids to be in line, witnessing the monstrosity of people who actually showed up was something else!

Not everyone loves my bizarre bakeries. Many people who walk into my shops see their precious smiles and pre-snack excitement quickly disappear when they find out I only sell clothing.“Where are the cupcakes?,” “Umm… I don’t get it?,” “Johnny Cupcakes – more like ‘Johnny %#&@-Cakes’.” Some people hate me since I don’t have real food. Because of this I am often asked, “Johnny, why don’t you sell actual cupcakes? Not only would you make a fortune, but you’d make fewer enemies!” Well, if I did that then people wouldn’t be upset. And, if you think about it, those upset people advertise for me!

Anytime they see a cupcake, bakery, oven, or refrigerator for the rest of their lives, they’re going to share their experience that they had going into my fake bakery. No matter how they feel about my shop, they’re going to talk about their unique experience and the word will spread like wild fire. During my whole career I’ve spent little to no money on advertising, relying solely on word of mouth.

Because of the very successful opening of my Newbury Street shop in Boston and my growing online orders, my mom was able to quit the 9-5 job she worked at since I was born and started working for me full time! She now takes care of trademarking and registering all of my designs, my paperwork, taxes, and bookkeeping. Being able to hire my mom has got to be one of my biggest achievements. She doesn't have to waste her life away in massive amounts of traffic anymore. If she wants to, she can sit at home in her pajamas and work from there!

In 2007 everything was growing at a comfy level. The new store on Newbury Street began doing way better than expected. Internet orders were growing. There was increasingly positive feedback from people all over the world. Hundreds of people would line up for my releases, camp-out overnight, and travel from far away places (and still do!). The few negative, clueless people who hate that I don't sell real cupcakes don't know what to think about this kind of enthusiasm. What they don't know is that I often give away actual cupcakes at my releases. These people walk by and say, "What the heck, Johnny Cupcakes doesn't even sell cupcakes!"

Then, when heaps of happy customers pour out of my shop with cupcakes in their hands and frosting on their face, that REALLY confuses them.I've even seen kids shopping in my stores who used to make fun of me and my t-shirts. And, if they're not purchasing something themselves, their girlfriends are. Funny how things work out, isn't it?

Oh yeah, when doing loads of bookkeeping, my mom sat me down to tell me that I was an official multi-millionaire. I seriously couldn't believe it! I thought that only movie stars and R&B singers were multi-millionaires. So I then decided it was finally time to move out of my parents' place. I bought myself a big old Victorian house just down the street from my childhood home that I hope to someday fill up with a family when I meet the right girl. I sent my parents to Barbados for a few weeks for their anniversary. Other than that, I just keep putting money and time back into my brand. It's my hobby, my passion, and my life. And I umm... bought a few arcade machines, too.

Both before and after being voted America's #1 Young Entrepreneur of 2008 by BusinessWeek magazine, I’ve lectured at big universities, small colleges, high schools, and at non-academic seminars all over the world. These lectures focus on how to start and maintain an original business without any startup money or other resources. I have a lot of generally useful advice-- like how to use both the web and retail space effectively, the importance of art, graphic design, creative packaging and other often overlooked details, how to create a lot of word of mouth excitement behind your business, and brand longevity.

But in these lectures I also cover less conventional dimensions of my brand-- things that have made me stand out in the crowd. For example, how a drug-free lifestyle has really helped me develop my business, my own creative types of viral marketing, and my unique and carefully crafted shopping environments. My goal in these lectures is to inspire all sorts of people to persistently work toward their goals. Young or old, students or faculty, entrepreneurial types or not, I show what a simple idea (and a ton of hard work) can do. Teaching, inspiring, and motivating people in this way has become very important to me. It makes me feel like I'm doing more than just making t-shirts.

My old warehouse in Hull quickly became overstuffed just like my parents' house. Again, after literally having to climb over boxes and pallets of products, I got a new warehouse and headquarters further down the road in the next city over. With this new setup, I have more room to comfortably expand and grow as a brand while still keeping my homegrown morals.

A few weeks went by after moving into the new Johnny Cupcakes' headquarters. It was a dark, cold, and rainy night. I was slightly depressed.I think I felt this way because I usually go to bed spooning with my laptop, and that night I had happened to catch the tail end of a romantic comedy on TV. I had some friends over for ping pong and, when taking a quick break, I checked my email. It was then that, for some reason, I decided to take a peek at retail spots in Los Angeles, California.

I stumbled upon a perfect, available storefront at 279 Melrose Avenue. It's near Kid Robot, Paul Frank, Fred Segal, GStar, Bathing Ape, and Adidas. Within two weeks, and without having any business plan, I was signing a lease for my new location. I thought about how it's t-shirt weather year round in California and I have a large following of customers on the west coast who would love to see a new location.

I had originally planned on opening the LA shop right away. It ended up taking six months worth of construction, invention, installation, and testing to get things up and running for the opening. My parents and (certain) friends thought I was insane for putting so much time, energy, and money into my LA shop. I really just wanted it to be a fun, different, and memorable experience.

When building this shop I worked closely with a company that engineers and designs a lot of stuff for Disneyland and Disneyworld, Universal Studios, Jeff Koons, Ellsworth Kelly, and other international artists and architects. They've really helped me bring my crazy ideas to life. This new LA Johnny Cupcakes shop turned out to be quite the memorable experience.

I came up with many, many weird ideas for my new shop. Along one wall I had 27 custom ovens installed that open at random times and emit steam. At the back of the store, I put in a giant 12 foot tall vintage oven that doubles as an entrance for the stock room. Huge industrial pipes run through the store with frosting oozing out of them, more vintage display cases hold my designs, and the checkout counter masquerades as a stove top with fake flames beneath. Of course there are many more details that I put into this shop that I'm proud of, but you'll need to make a trip to LA to see them! (see the stores section for more information)

The grand opening was unbelievable. Tons of people were there, lined up around the block. I even flew my family, friends, and employees out to the event to witness the new chapter in the history of Johnny Cupcakes. While they all knew people in LA would be excited about the new shop, everyone was completely shocked that some customers had waited in line for four days for the opening.

Remembering that first impressions are important, I wanted to have a grand opening for the LA shop with some weird, quirky, and hopefully unforgettable antics for the customers who had camped out. I had a wooden crate built to my size specifications and stuffed it with hay. Then I had some mustachioed movers in industrial jumpsuits shut me up in the box and load me onto a customized Johnny Cupcakes delivery truck from the '50s. They drove the truck right up to the front door, unloaded the box, and opened the lid. I popped out to some cheering customers and confused pedestrians so I could open the store for the first time.

That day, night, and into the early hours of the morning I made sure to meet and talk to every single person who came by. I wanted to make sure that everyone in line got a chance to come inside. It was great to meet people from all over the country who came to see what I'd created.

While all of my shirts are already limited edition, I began to come out with in-store exclusives that are only available at one or the other of my three locations. This way people have an incentive to see all of the wacky creations that I've built and to encourage customers to get t-shirts that cannot be gotten elsewhere. Whether in Hull, Boston, or LA, people can continue to get exclusive, limited clothing that almost no one else has. I also began doing the same thing with my online store where there are new exclusive online items monthly that are often individually numbered.

Since hanging out with my customers and treating them as friends is important to me, I began to try and come up with ways of meeting people in cities where I didn't already have a store. The first of these events was in San Francisco, CA where I held a  pizza party for Johnny Cupcakes fans in the Bay Area. I again expected just a few people to stop by but was flabbergasted when the line for pizza grew down the block and around the corner. And all this right near the busiest intersection in all of San Francisco! In Chicago I had the same sort of event with grilled cheese and a photobooth to take pictures with my customers. More recently, I went international and treated everyone to cupcakes at Leicester Square in London. At all of these events hundreds of Johnny Cupcakes customers came out with their shirts, new and old. This is just another fun way to keep my brand homegrown, personal, and fun.

In my new warehouse there are tons of random objects laying around, including lots of Johnny Cupcakes stuff that never made its way out the door. Thinking about how some of my diehard fans would love to get their hands on the rarer, limited, and vintage items we have laying about, I set up the Johnny Cupcakes Ebay Vault. Every week I post up new random stuff from the warehouse on Ebay. So far I've received really great feedback from cupcake fiends looking for deals or rare items. I post up things like one-of-a-kind window displays, promotional t-shirts, samples, and last pressings. Checking it out could be very worthwhile-- you can find stuff in the Vault you can't find elsewhere for anywhere between 99 cents and 99 dollars!

Everyone knows that I started my brand by making t-shirts with quirky designs on them. Since I've made it this far with mostly just t-shirt designs, I decided that it's time to start expanding Johnny Cupcakes to make more types of custom clothing. I now have all kinds of new clothing on the way like button-down shirts, shorts, polos, jackets, sweaters, baseball caps, and more. I really look forward to seeing what all the customers that have grown with my brand since the beginning think of this new iteration of Johnny Cupcakes and hope more recent fans think, too.

In order to stay connected to my customers in Boston I've started a monthly movie night. I partnered with the Coolidge Corner Theater in Boston to show a bunch of movies from my childhood in the '80s that have molded me into the weirdo that I am today. Every month we've had a bunch of people come out including my friends, fans, family, and employees. Because of the partnership between the Coolidge Corner Theater and myself, we can keep the movie tickets cheaper than the average movie ticket so it's easier for people to come out and have fun. So far we've played Gremlins, Back to the Future, The Karate Kid, The Wizard, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We also do a limited edition inspired t-shirt and posters for each film we show.

To make the movie nights more than just sitting there and watching a film, I also have lots of bonuses and activities before they start playing. We do things like raffles, give-aways, contests, and more. We also play lots of funny commercials before the movies get going. The movie nights are a great way for me to hang out with all of the people that like my brand and for people to see what makes me tick. The theater nearly sells out every time, so it's definitely a memorable, exciting, and fun experience. In order to not leave out all of my friends and customers on the Left Coast, I'm starting up a movie night in Los Angeles soon. Keep checking my blog and website to see what we're playing this month!

Another new idea that I'm bringing to life is a monthly Johnny Cupcakes newspaper. While I definitely think using the Internet to get information about what I'm up to out quickly is a good idea, I thought maybe a more classic approach might be fun, too. The newspaper will feature a monthly letter from the editor (me), a few puzzles and games, a calendar of upcoming events, new releases, a tasty monthly recipe for baked items, and a few top ten lists, among other things. It will be distributed in stores and packaged with online orders.

Dad started building out the warehouse even more. Gives more room etc.

So that's the story up through today. You'll continue to see updates on my blog each day. There will be many more random meet-ups with customers in cities across the country and the rest of the world. There will also be pop-up shops at random bakeries in different cities worldwide. I'll continue to lecture at various colleges, universities, and high schools, helping to inspire and educate people on how to start their own brands. For my own brand, you'll see even more in-store and online exclusives, new designs and types of clothing, and more interesting collaborations with other designers and brands.

Above all, I'll continue to focus on enhancing my customers' experiences through my stores, events, website, designs, and packaging. I will never ever sell my brand to investors for all the money in the world. I think you'll find that things will only get more interesting from here...