Elite Event: Baked By Melissa

I think this tops the list as my favorite Elite Event I’ve attended. I love Baked By Melissa to begin with — so the thought of spending a whole evening getting to know the brand (and meet Melissa!) was something I knew I wanted to be apart of.
The team did an amazing job with planning down to the last details, and everyone walked away loving BBM, cupcakes, and NYC a little more than they already do. In one night, we traversed the whole city on a double-​decker bus — starting at the Imagine memorial in Central Park and hitting a variety of spots that are important to BBM’s history. We learned about how the brand got started, how it’s truly a family operation, and how they have continued to innovate throughout the years. We got off the bus in SoHo to visit the original cupcake window and receive cupcakes from Melissa herself! Then we all headed to a nearby bar to celebrate the night, get to know Melissa even more, and top off all the cupcakes with custom drinks.
Well done, BBM team! This was a very unique and fun-​filled event.

After the event being postponed by the Papal visit, I, along with everyone else invited, was in quite a bit of suspense for what was in store for us. A surprise no longer, after being greeted and welcomed by the Baked by Melissa CEO and other staff, our journey had begun. It’s not often as a local that we are invited to ride in a double decker open roof Grey Line bus (decked out in Baked by Melissa rainbow ribbon no less). But there’s a first for everything.
From the IMAGINE memorial at Strawberry Fields in Central Park, to the west side and the east side, down thru Union Square and finally to Soho, we received our own Baked by Melissa miniature NYC tour, complete with company trivia, lots of swag, and a tray of 25-​cupcakes to take home. What began with a snack courtesy of BBM friends Peanut Butter & Co, we had the opportunity to mingle with the founders and other staff over the course of a few hours, ending with a visit with Melissa herself. Not only did we learn what brought BBM into existence, but for the event, we were treated to a round of decadent Baked By Melissa cocktails at Sweetwater Social that paired perfectly with mini-​cupcakes that BBM is known for.
Many great thanks to Peanut Butter & Co for the snack, BONNIE and her antics aboard the Grey Line Double Decker tour bus, Ruggy and the Unilocal team for putting together such a fantastic event, and the Baked By Melissa staff for being amazing gracious hosts.

There’s this cupcake shop in my neighborhood, I never knew its name, but every time I walked by it, my brows quirked, and I thought, why the heck are the cupcakes so small? After this Elite event, I have been enlightened. I’m now officially a fan of Melissa’s.
This event was unique, in the best of ways. It was structured as a tour of spots in the city that were important to Melissa and the company, and kicked off at Strawberry Fields in Central Park, because Melissa is a Beatles fan, a fan of the 60s in general, and because BBM hosts or participates in many charity events in the Park. We got a rundown of the company’s serendipitous history and, also, PB&J sandwiches.
(Each sandwich was the size of an elephant’s ear, I’m not even sure where you find sliced bread that big – I wondered if the BBM crew were compensating for the teeniness of the cupcakes? In any case, it was all goddamn delightful.)
The company’s history isn’t my story to tell, but it was retold several times throughout the night and I felt like they wanted it shared, so here’s the very beginnings of it, for folks who weren’t there:
* Melissa has a job and one day thinks she’s gonna get promoted but she gets fired instead.
* Distraught, she calls her brother, a serial entrepreneur, who says, you always liked to bake cupcakes so why don’t you come up with 5 great flavors and we’ll make a business out of it. He says this mostly to calm her down by way of distraction.
* That very day she bakes about 230 cupcakes. By evening, she’s got the five flavors.
* Soon thereafter, they meet a high-​end caterer named Ben who likes the cupcakes but asks for them to be smaller, because his events only serve small hors d’oeuvres.
* The course of Cupcake History is forever changed.
After this came the highlight of the event: an open-​top, double-​decker bus tour. This was cool not only because, as a New Yorker, I’ve never taken one of these tourist buses before, but also because of the kind of actual real risk of death, as branches and lights and street signs swooshed over us.
The BBM crew gave us tons of swag, including a 25-​pack of their cupcakes. I’ve now had several of these, and by several I mean most, and by most I mean… all. I’m not the biggest fan of sweets, but, these are delightful little cakes. My favorite is the vanilla cookies n’ cream, a limited edition, but they’re pretty much all good.
Ruggy, thank you for the invite to this event!
And BBM people: you all were a treat to talk to and to meet, and I’m not just saying that because you loaded me with sugar and alcohol!

We all got baked…
by Melissa.
This event had it all. Delicious cupcakes, amazing sites of the city, tasty drinks, super cool hosts, and the new love of my life BONNIE!
I started the event after a long typical day of work where there’s a man hunt for perps who shot at plain clothed officers, shutting your woke site down for the whole day. You know typical stuff. Got to Central Park and proceeded to miss everyone standing on the corner. Reached out and figured out everyone was back by the entrance. Eventually the Baked by Melissa team had us come into the park for a bit and started by giving us some yummy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. My only quarrel was the crust. Don’t get me wrong I don’t have an issue with most crust, but some parts of the slices of bread were really tough. Almost rye bread like. I would have checked that no crust option, unless of course there was a potato bread option. I’d eat that crust for days.
We then proceed to enter the double decker tour buses. Being a born and bred New Yorker, I’ve never actually been on one. The tour bus operator Bonnie was a hoot. She stared off by telling us a story about someone who died while on one of the busses and proceeded to laugh about it. And not just a haha, more like an awkward laugh your uncle has.
The tour was fun. I got to be a tourist in my own city. Everyone got to meet new people. At one point we almost got into an accident which would have been fun. The ladies up front were amazing. Mallory’s impersonation of a dinosaur was a crowd pleaser. The dropped some knowledge about Melissa and New York which was appreciated. Note, yes to have a hot dog license is that expensive, but rarely do they ever pay it.
Bonnie started doing leg kicks, one of which came close to my head. So much for sitting down. That woman is in serious shape for her age! She could easily beat me up. I then got a huge tray of 25 cupcakes to my coworkers’ delight. Upon exiting I commented to Bonnie how I enjoyed her joke about someone’s death. She replied with «I know» and followed that up with an evil, diabolical laugh.
We started walking around, at one point to no where in particular. Eventually got to their soho store front. Met Melissa. She was lovely. Much nicer than Bonnie.
We were then led to Sweet Water and was given two drink tickets. I actually lost one of mine, but no one seemed to care for the drink. Thus they kept tossing them my way. The drink was a bit sweet, but what would you expect.
Thank you so much to Melissa, her brother, the wonderful Baked by Melissa staff, the bartenders, the bus driver, and of course Bonnie. Great job by Ruggy, setting up one of the best events of the year!

Having lived in NYC for over a decade, I never had an opportunity to take one of those double decker bus tours around the city and I’m glad that my first one was sponsored by Baked by Melissa. You definitely get a different perspective of the city from atop a double decker bus and I highly recommend trying it out. Pro-​tip: bring layers in case it gets cold.
While on the tour we learned about Melissa’s inspirational story of taking life’s lemons and making them into lemonade cupcakes! She has even inspired me to start my own business. So who wants to pay to watch me nap? Once we got to the new Baked by Melissa window, we were treated to a Q&A sessions with Melissa herself and even more samples!!!
We ended the night at Sweet Water were we enjoyed some custom drinks created by a mixologist to paired perfectly with Baked by Melissa’s treats. I can’t wait to go back to the new Baked by Melissa Window in Soho and Sweet Water so I can do proper reviews for them!

A remarkable night with the brilliant HQ staff from Baked By Melissa kicked off at Central Park by the «Imagine» (John Lennon) Memorial with a packed PB&J goodie bags being distributed, and a brief history and inspiration for the founding of Baked By Melissa with co-​Founder Brian Bushell.
This was followed by a bus tour aboard a double-​decker touristy bus, one that I’ve never been on, being a native New Yorker. Naturally, everyone wanted to be up top amidst a cool, chilly autumn night cutting through the bulk of Manhattan and driving by several of the iconic Baked By Melissa stores. There was plenty of BBM history to be shared by our guides for the evening. They also handed out a giant pack of cupcakes.
When we stopped in SoHo, more BBM swag was distributed (limited edition t-​shirts) and we walked briefly to the counter that sells BBM goods. This is the future model of their brick and mortar presence in the most expensive parcels of commercial real estate.
Afterwards, we circled around to Sweetwater Social for cocktails made specifically for BBM, and platefuls of BBM cupcakes served up on a platter. A fun night capped off with meeting the one-​and-​only Melissa Bushell. Yes, she is a real person!
Big thanks to Unilocal NYC (Ruggy) and the Baked By Melissa team for making this happen!

This event was definitely one of a kind!
Elites met up in Strawberry Fields by the Imagine memorial for a quick intro and run through of the night’s festivities with the lovely Baked by Melissa staff. It was an old school brown bag dinner tonight consisting of pb&j, chips and carrot sticks before we boarded our double decker bus tour.
As a native New Yorker, I’d never been on one of these buses and found the tour pretty enjoyable. There’s so much more to see and things I’d never noticed while aboard the top deck. Bucket list, check! We made our way down to Soho slowly whilst receiving fun facts about the company. We received a 25 pack of cupcakes and a tshirt too. Sweeeeet. Plopped em right in the tote we got earlier. So much swag.
We walked to the Soho location and got a chance to meet Melissa. She’s real! The night ended at Sweetwater Social where a specialty cocktail was made for the event (vodka, pineapple juice, cinnamon syrup and something else I’m forgetting) to wash down the platters upon platters of cupcakes provided for our enjoyment. It was pretty sweet.
Thank you so much for a lovely, bucket list fulfilling, sweet tooth satisfying, informative evening to the Baked By Melissa staff, Sweetwater Social and Unilocal NYC!