MORE, a Stylish New Mecca for Cupcake Lovers, to Open at One East Delaware Place

CHICAGO (February 2008) - Chicago will soon join the ranks of other major cities inundated with long lines of cupcake lovers waiting to sample their favorite guilty pleasure. MORE, a specialty retail cupcake bakery and wholesaler, will open its doors in Spring 2008 at One East Delaware Place at the intersection of State Street and Delaware.

MORE is the creation of charming, energetic owner Patty Rothman who has teamed up with her culinary friends, consultants Gale Gand and Henry Adaniya. Gand is designing the unique, extra moist cupcake recipes and Adaniya is developing the business concept. Both Gand and Adaniya have national culinary reputations: Gand is a multiple James Beard award winner, including Outstanding Pastry Chef, and Adaniya, with his restaurant Trio, has been a catalyst behind the careers of such culinary stars as Rick Tramonto, Shawn McClain, Grant Achatz and Dale Levitski.

"We wanted to create a business that was upbeat and fun, and what could be more fun than cupcakes? Everyone loves cupcakes," says Rothman. "We all can recall childhood memories of eating delicious cupcakes. Who can't remember that exciting moment of anticipation when we pull back the paper and prepare to savor the first scrumptious bite?"

The MORE team thinks of cupcakes as stylish comfort food. "Cupcakes are small enough to be an indulgence that everyone can enjoy," remarks Rothman. "Right now, cupcakes are one of the hottest treats around in New York and L.A. Our goal is to put Chicago on the cupcake map with our unique and sophisticated approach."

MORE will offer a rotating collection of more than 30 varieties of their rich, flavorful cupcakes. The collection will be noteworthy for its savory flavors in addition to the sweet recipes. The cupcake menu will change often and will include special holiday and seasonal flavors. MORE's cupcakes will be peanut-free, in deference to those with peanut allergies.

The cupcakes showcase a combination of bold and subtle flavors, with twists such as ganache filled chocolate, passion fruit and poppyseed, pink grapefruit and gingerbread. Savory flavors, such as cracked pepper and parmesan, pear, bleu cheese and port, and corn bacon and maple, will also be featured. Cupcake lovers will also enjoy the more standard flavors such as chocolate, white, yellow red velvet, carrot and lemon.

"It has been great fun creating these recipes," said Gand. "We've been testing everything: lots of cake batters and tons of frostings; from subtle to over the top. We're taking a 'no limits' approach to our flavors. As long as the cupcake is rich and delicious, any flavor is fair game. Plus, we're making sure to include the classics like devil's food and red velvet. We want to have something for everyone."

Adaniya, who left Chicago to return to his Hawaiian roots and now owns and runs Hank's Haute Dogs, a unique, upscale hot dog stand on Waikiki Beach, is all about fun these days. "MORE is an extension of my current philosophy that food can be fun and wonderful at the same time. We don't want to take ourselves too seriously, but we are committed to offering a seriously good product and an excellent customer experience."

The chic retail store, designed by David Woodhouse Architects, LLC, will be a warm and comfortable feast of the senses. The ambience will be luscious with rich textures and colors, essentially material abstractions of the ingredients like butter cream and chocolate. The store will glow from within via backlighting. Alongside the creative display cases there will be seating for in-house noshing.

Rothman expects that many customers will buy cupcakes by the dozen and that a good portion of MORE's business will come from special orders for cupcakes at private events-weddings, birthdays, bar mitzvahs and so on. Special signature packaging will be available for gift givers. As a wholesaler, MORE will also supply restaurants, hotels and corporate clients.

The MORE concept began when Rothman recognized the growing popularity of cupcakes around the country and, looking to start a cheerful, happy business, she enlisted the help of her friends Gand and Adaniya to enlarge the retail and wholesale store concept and develop unique cupcake recipes. She has also enlisted Gand's protégé Kathy Skutecki to oversee the day-to-day baking operations.

"Cupcakes have gone upscale," says Rothman. "Top chefs at restaurants are putting them on the menu. Cupcakes are showing up at weddings in place of the traditional cake, at tea parties, and at just about every kind of special occasion event. They are at home everywhere and they appeal to all ages."

Many people trace the cupcake frenzy to an episode of "Sex and the City" in which Miranda and Carrie snacked on pink-frosted cupcakes at New York's now famous Magnolia Bakery. Today, Magnolia sells 3,000 cupcakes per day with lines out the door. Sprinkles of Beverly Hills, with several locations in the L.A. area, sells more than 1,000 cupcakes per day in its stores.

Although this is Rothman's first foray into the specialty food business, she is not new to building successful startups. She owns Hinge Studios in Chicago, a premier recording studio that has produced or mixed songs for several of this year's Grammy nominees.

MORE, located at One East Delaware Place at the intersection of State Street and Delaware in Chicago, will be open for business 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to
6 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, contact Patty Rothman by phone at (312) 951-0001
or send an email to info@morecupcakes.com. Please visit the MORE website at www.morecupcakes.com.