On Saturday night, students swarmed the houses that line Euclid Avenue and stumbling partygoers roamed the streets.  One ambitious student with a full backpack shouted, ‘I’ve got $2 Bud Lights!’

‘We’ve got $3 cupcakes!’ replied television, radio and film junior Alyssa McKinley, co-founder of Drunkcakes Co. McKinley started the mobile cupcake business with best friend Chelsea Andersson, a junior landscape architecture major at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. They aim to provide Syracuse University’s party scene with ‘the one drunken decision you won’t regret,’ Andersson said. 

Holding trays filled with sweet treats, Andersson, McKinley and their friend Ian Barin, a junior environmental studies major, walked down Euclid and Comstock avenues. They cheerfully shouted, ‘Cupcakes!’

The idea was born after Andersson’s sister, hungry after a long night of drinking, recalled how desperately she wanted a baked good and what a great idea it would be to market it directly to hungry, drunk partiers.

The founders had high expectations on their second weekend selling Drunkcakes. They sold all their cupcakes during their first weekend — one customer bought seven at once.

‘It’s not even about the money at this point,’ Andersson said. ‘It’s just great seeing people’s reactions.’

To help promote their new business, McKinley and Andersson created a Twitter profile, DrunkcakesCoSU, to let followers know where they will be each night, gauge what flavors customers are looking for and create promotions such as The Magic Word. Every night before Drunkcakes hits the street, McKinley and Andersson tweet the magic word and the first person to shout it gets a free cupcake.

Freshman entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises major Dan Kennelly said he was impressed by the idea behind Drunkcakes.

‘I think this is a great idea because at 2 o’clock in the morning, everybody wants a cupcake, and those just look amazing,’ Kennelly said. ‘If I had $3, I would eat that in one bite.’

Almost every person who purchased a cupcake proclaimed they were ‘delicious,’ with their mouths still filled with half-chewed vanilla, chocolate, red velvet or vegan cupcakes.

Many potentially interested customers were deterred by the $3 price. Most people are nice about it and simply walk away, McKinley said.

‘People don’t realize that a lot of work went into these cupcakes. They’re homemade,’ Barin said.

Andersson and McKinley plan to walk around with Drunkcakes every weekend for the next few weeks before winter hits.

In the long run, Andersson and McKinley hope to expand and start a legitimate business. The two are thinking of acquiring a vending license. Already off to a good start, Drunkcakes was hired to cater a SUNY-ESF event and two birthday parties in its first week of business.

‘I don’t really see this as sacrificing my weekend because I still get to go out with my best friend,’ McKinley said. ‘We were just doing this for fun one night, and now we really don’t want to stop.’

dmodiama@syr.edu

Published on September 11, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Danielle: dmodiama@syr.edu | @daniemarieodie