Flour Power: Naming Your Business

What's in a name? A cupcake bakery by any other name would be just as sweet... We have been blogging for over eight years and one of the most common words used in naming cupcake businesses are descriptive words for cupcakes like yummy, delicious or sweet. Many bakeries names are words that are the components of the cupcake, like butter, crumbs, flour, frosting, sprinkles or sugar. Some bakeries are named after the local city/town that they started like Georgetown or Brooklyn. Still others are named the owner or a member of the owner's family. Well, the point is that many bakeries names are very similar to others. The expression,"Great minds think alike", is evident in the bakery business. Bakeries that have opened up national chains or franchises may have a brand name that is similar to the local corner bakery. There have been legal action between some cupcake bakeries because there was "confusion in the marketplace". Doing a trademark and trade name search are necessary first steps when naming a new business. Also, when deciding on a name, the owner should consider how the name looks as an URL. Then you have to snatch up all the social media handles relating to the bakery's name. Twitter is especially problematic since Twitter handles character limit is shorter than Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and the like. BTW, please don't use hyphen or underscores in your twitter handle. It makes it so difficult for your fans to remember. Whew! This can be exhausting, but I especially love a great origins story of how a bakery came up with the name of the bakery. The story is more important than the name as the story conveys a bakery's brand, mission and or passion. Bottom line: What's in a name? It matters, but your cupcakes matter more. When your customers enjoy a tiny,sweet, buttery,yummy cupcake with whipped frosting, you win.