看看賣蛋糕如何一年賺到900萬

An ATM that spits out cupcakes instead of cash doesn't necessarily scream "genius business idea." Nevertheless, the quirky invention is now filling a popular demand in the American market: late-night cravings for freshly baked sweets.

一臺“ATM機”吐出的是紙杯蛋糕而不是鈔票，這未必會讓人發出“天才商業點子”的驚歎。不過，這項新奇的發明正在滿足美國市場一種很常見的需求，那就是深夜想吃現烤蛋糕的衝動。

In six cities across the country including Chicago, Atlanta, and most recently New York City, sugar addicts can now purchase a cupcake for $4.25 from an automated machine 24 hours a day and seven days a week. The freshly baked goods are handcrafted by the California-based cupcake shop Sprinkles.

現在，美國六座城市的甜食愛好者隨時都可以在這樣的自動化機器上買到紙杯蛋糕，每個售價4.25美元。這些城市包括芝加哥、亞特蘭大和紐約，其中紐約是出現這種機器最晚的城市。這些現烤蛋糕由芝加哥紙杯蛋糕生產商Sprinkles手工製作。

The novel idea came to the company's co-founders Candace and Charles Nelson when Candace was pregnant with their first child. She thought it was ridiculous that she owned cupcake bakeries and couldn't get a freshly baked treat at an odd hour, Charles told Fortune. That craving inspired the company's first cupcake ATM in Beverly Hills, Calif. in 2012.

Sprinkles聯合創始人坎迪斯?納爾遜和查爾斯?納爾遜夫婦在坎迪斯懷上第一個孩子時有了這個新穎的想法。查爾斯接受本刊採訪時表示，坎迪斯覺得作爲紙杯蛋糕公司的擁有者，自己卻不能在非正常營業時間吃到現烤蛋糕是一件可笑的事。對蛋糕的想念促使這家公司於2012年在貝弗利山安裝了第一臺“紙杯蛋糕ATM機”。

"When we created the first cupcake-only bakery in 2005, we thought, 'Why can't the cupcake be the star of the show?'," says Charles. "What we saw is that we had customers who were demanding cupcakes 24 hours a day, but it doesn't make sense to have your business open at three or four in the morning ... fast-forward to the cupcake ATM."

查爾斯說：“2005年我們開了第一家只賣紙杯蛋糕的蛋糕店。當時我們的想法是，爲什麼紙杯蛋糕不能成爲主打產品？我們發現，有些消費者隨時都可能想吃紙杯蛋糕，但早上三、四點鐘就開門營業並不明智……很快我們就想到了‘紙杯蛋糕ATM機’”

Charles, the cupcake empire's CEO, wouldn't go into specifics about the revenue earned from Sprinkles' cupcake machines, but said each ATM serves about 1,000 cupcakes per day. By Fortune's calculations, if all six machines are selling roughly 365,000 cupcakes a a year for $4.25 each, Nelson has more than a $9 million business on his hands. The machine is so popular that when it debuted in Manhattan earlier this week, customers were lined up around the block to use it.

查爾斯是這個紙杯蛋糕帝國的首席執行官，他不願透露這些“ATM機”的具體收入。但他說，每臺機器每天大約要賣一千個蛋糕。本刊估算，如果全部六臺機器一年出售的蛋糕數量約爲36.5萬個。按每個蛋糕4.25美元計算，這項業務的規模已經超過900萬美元。這種機器非常受歡迎，以至於本週早些時候它在曼哈頓首次亮相的時候，等着買蛋糕的隊伍都拐過了街角。

"It's really good and fresh. It's exquisite," said 12-year-old Shane Leonard as he chomped into a black and white cupcake from the ATM. Shane's sister Grace heard about the machine because it was trending on Facebook. The duo stood in line with their father and about 40 other cupcake devotees on Thursday afternoon.

12歲的謝恩?倫納德一邊咬着“ATM機”做出的黑白色紙杯蛋糕一邊說：“真是又好吃又新鮮，很精緻。”這種機器已經成了Facebook上的熱門話題，謝恩的姐姐格蕾絲正是通過Facebook聽說了它。上週四下午，姐弟倆和爸爸一起在“紙杯蛋糕ATM機”前排隊，和他們一起等候的還有大約40位紙杯蛋糕愛好者。

Yet inventing the first cupcake ATM was not as easy as convincing customers to use it. When the Nelsons started designing the machine, they quickly realized nothing existed that could give a fully intact cupcake to a customer, says Charles. The company had to partner with a European firm to develop the technology that could deliver a cupcake without dropping it several feet like a typical vending machine. But once the prototype of the first cupcake ATM went to market in Beverly Hills, the machine couldn't come close to handling the 1,000 transactions it received each day. "The machine was melting down, the parts were actually melting," says Charles. After going through a second development cycle with the product, the ATMs can now adequately withstand growing customer demand and even disperse as many as four cupcakes at a time. The machine can also handle nearly 100 orders an hour thanks to faster customer transaction times.

不過，發明第一臺“紙杯蛋糕ATM機”並不像說服消費者使用它那麼容易。查爾斯表示，開始着手設計這種機器後，夫婦兩人很快意識到，當時沒有什麼現成的機器能爲人們提供完整無缺的紙杯蛋糕。沒辦法，Sprinkles只好和一家歐洲公司合作開發這項技術，要求是這種機器能把蛋糕遞出來，而不是像常見的自動販賣機那樣讓商品從幾英尺高的地方落下來。然而，第一臺在貝弗利山投入運營的原型機遠遠無法完成每天做一千個蛋糕的任務。查爾斯說：“那臺機器都要化了，它的零件真的在融化。”第二次進行設計後，這臺機器終於可以滿足不斷增長的消費需求，甚至是在一次烤四個蛋糕的情況下。由於縮短了消費者等待的時間，它每小時可以做近100個蛋糕。

"Shopping and dining is as entertainment-focused as ever," says Charles. "You are still just buying and eating a cupcake, right? But I've watched customers on our original machine in Beverly Hills sit there and buy 12 cupcakes with 12 different transactions in a row because they wanted to see the robotic arm and the video play to go get it again and again."

查爾斯說：“消遣一直都是購物和餐飲的核心。人們可以簡單地去買個紙杯蛋糕吃，對吧？但我見過有人坐在我們放在貝弗利山的那臺原型機旁邊，連着下了12單，買了12個蛋糕，因爲他們想翻來覆去地看那臺機器的機械手臂和它播放的視頻。”

From a business perspective, the machine allow Sprinkles to basically do the impossible: increase hours of operation without raising costs. It is difficult to get employees to work odd hours during the night as well as dangerous from a security perspective, says Nelson. Now the company can sell cupcakes around the clock through the ATM without paying employees or putting them at risk. What's more, is that Sprinkles can get away with charging $4.25 for cupcakes that come out of the machine as opposed to the $3.75 price seen in stores. In order for the baked goods to be delivered without damage, they had to come in a gift box that the company sells in its stores for an additional 50 cents.

從商業角度講，這臺機器讓Sprinkles做到了一件幾乎不可能的事，那就是延長營業時間卻不增加成本。查爾斯說，讓員工在夜間非正常營業時間工作很難，從安全角度考慮也很危險。現在，這家公司可以隨時出售紙杯蛋糕，而且不需要支付員工工資，也不需要讓他們冒風險。此外，通過這臺機器出售的蛋糕每個可以賣到4.25美元，而不是Sprinkles店裏的3.75美元。爲了避免在製作過程中損壞蛋糕，必須把這臺機器做出的蛋糕放在紙盒裏，而每個紙盒在店裏的售價爲0.5美元。

"That's cheap entertainment though," explains Charles. "Since when has 50 cents changed your mind on anything?"

查爾斯解釋說：“這只是一種便宜的消遣，人們什麼時候會因爲0.5美元而改變心意呢？”

The Nelsons did not stumble upon this business boon completely by chance. Both Charles and Candace come from a background in investment banking in San Francisco. Before opening a cupcake bakery out of their home kitchen, the couple worked on initial public offerings with technology companies. Then they moved down to Los Angeles in 2003 with the idea of starting a cupcake-only bakery. At first, Candace and Charles couldn't get anyone to lease them a space because the idea of a bakery that only sold cupcakes was too "kooky," says Charles. Next thing they knew, celebrities like Tyra Banks and Henry Winkler were placing orders, and the business took off from there. The company is even partnering with a Middle Eastern franchise operator to open 34 new locations abroad.

納爾遜夫婦發現這個爲他人提供便利的商業途徑並非完全誤打誤撞。他們都有在舊金山一家投資銀行工作的背景。在自家廚房裏開紙杯蛋糕店之前，兩口子的工作是幫助科技公司上市。2003年，他們帶着一個創業點子搬到了洛杉磯，那就是，開一家蛋糕店，而且只做紙杯蛋糕。一開始，坎迪斯和查爾斯找不到願意租給他們場地的人。查爾斯說，原因是隻做紙杯蛋糕這個想法過於古怪。接下來，他們看到的是泰拉?班克斯（美國超級名模——譯註）和亨利?溫克勒（美國影星——譯註）這樣的名人給他們下了訂單，他們的生意也從此起步。Sprinkles甚至準備和一家中東特許經營商合作，在海外開34家門店。

"My wife and I have always focused on innovation," says Nelson. "The challenge of being an innovator is that you are always doing things for the first time. It's more rewarding, but it's harder."

查爾斯的下一個重大項目是基礎設施建設，目的是爲沒有和15家Sprinkle臨街店鋪相連的“紙杯蛋糕ATM機”提供支持。查爾斯說，雖然這些機器每次能裝760杯蛋糕，但爲了保持新鮮，每天要補一、兩次貨。如果管理者能找到划算的辦法來實施這行工作，這種“ATM機”模式就會具有無限的潛力。查爾斯指出：“我妻子和我一直都把注意力放在創新上。創新者的挑戰在於，你總是在做以前沒有的事。它能帶來更多收益，但難度更大。”