information established december 26 2006 2006 12 26 closed september 30 2013 2013 09 30 current owner s doreen valentine food type bakery city pittsburgh state pennsylvania website dozenbakeshop.com dozen bake shop was a bakery in pittsburgh pennsylvania . while a variety of baked goods and other dishes were offered cupcakes were dozen s specialty and featured product . 1 it was founded in late 2006 by james gray a graduate of chicago culinary institute . 2 the opening came amid a national cupcake trend leading gray to believe that the time was right to open a cupcake heavy bakery in pittsburgh as he believed that the trend had already played out in new york city or chicago . 2 andew twigg was a co owner with gray . 3 the bakery developed a strong brand and a social media presence using facebook and twitter to alert customers of daily specials and other offers . 4 the twitter account became one of the most popular in pittsburgh . 5 dozen bake shop is the official cupcake of the pittsburgh penguins and their cupcakes are available at the consol energy center . 6 the baking philosophy focused on using local sourcing especially local produce and herbs . 7 8 the elvis was a featured item ; it was a banana cupcake with chocolate hazelnut filling topped with peanut butter buttercream icing . 9 baker megan hart introduced edible roses in 2012 . 10 contents 1 history 2 gallery 3 references 4 external links history edit the storefront in the lawrenceville location . the first dozen bakeshop location a 700 sq ft 65 m2 storefront opened in squirrel hill on december 26 2006 . 2 during 2007 the bakery made 340 000 in sales . 2 by the end of 2007 the pittsburgh city paper named dozen the best place to indulge your sweet tooth . 11 in january 2008 1 300 sq ft 120 m2 bakery was opened in lawrenceville allowing dozen to expand into catering . 7 by then the bakery had 9 employees . 9 during the first half of 2009 two locations opened a 250 sq ft 23 m2 storefront on liberty avenue in downtown and at the andy warhol museum on the north shore . 8 in october 2009 a 555 sq ft 51.6 m2 location opened on carson street in the south side . 3 12 in fall 2010 dozen closed two existing locations south side and squirrel hill and opened a new location in oakland . 13 the southside location had bad parking and did not mesh well with the bar heavy ambiance of the neighborhood . 13 the squirrel hill location had no room to expand . it was hoped that the oakland location with easy access to pitt and cmu would be a better fit for the bakery . 13 in early 2011 dozen bake shop was named a pittsburgh city favorite by the new york post . 14 a cupcake truck for mobile cupcakery was acquired . 15 a short time later the business which by then had 18 to 20 employees was in trouble and was put up for sale . 16 sales were down by 50 % from a peak annual revenue of 1 million ; loans were coming due . 16 by july 2011 the two remaining locations lawrenceville and oakland were closed after a farewell bake sale . 1 in august 2011 dozen re opened under the new ownership of doreen valentine who hired 4 new bakers . 17 according to valentine it was not the quality or brand that had failed . 17 instead she believed that dozen had been doomed by too rapid of expansion that left too little capital for operations a mistake she would not repeat . 17 megan hart a pittsburgh native who competed in tlc s reality television contest show cake boss next great baker s 2nd season joined the staff in february 2012 . 18 in may 2013 the oakland location was closed and a new location opened in south hills at donaldson s crossroads in peters township . 19 in september 2013 it was announced that all dozen locations will close by the end of the month . 20 the former owner james gray went on to revive fritz pastry in chicago . 21 gallery edit customers eating a cupcake sampler in 2011 a sign showing cupcake of the day . note that the elvis is on wednesday and the east end chocolate stout is thursday the bakery display owner doreen valentine discusses cupcakes with visitors a cosmo flavored cupcake references edit a b millman china july 9 2011 . dozen bake shop to hold farewell bake sale today . pittsburgh post gazette . retrieved february 2 2013 . a b c d mcloone sharon february 4 2008 . it s six of one half a dozen of the other . washington post . washington d.c. retrieved february 2 2013 . a b green caralyn october 7 2009 . dozen grants south side wish sweet treats along carson street . pop city . retrieved february 2 2013 . jin liyun june 21 2009 . businesses using twitter facebook to market goods . pittsburgh post gazette . retrieved february 2 2013 . millman china july 12 2009 . restaurants try out twitter patter . pittsburgh post gazette . retrieved february 2 2013 . mckay gretchen january 22 2013 . penguins official cupcake . pg plate . pittsburgh post gazette . a b baron jennifer january 23 2008 . dozen cupcakes expands with second pittsburgh location doubles capacity . pop city . retrieved february 2 2013 . a b jin liyun july 30 2009 . fresh find dozen cupcakes . pittsburgh post gazette . retrieved february 2 2013 . a b bailey laurie march 27 2008 . independent bakeries keep customers coming back . pittsburgh post gazette . retrieved february 2 2013 . cupcake bouquets abloom with edible roses . pittsburgh tribune review . february 10 2012 . retrieved february 2 2013 . best place to indulge your sweet tooth . pittsburgh city paper . december 31 2007 . retrieved february 2 2013 . dozen bake shop opens south side location . pittsburgh business times . november 13 2009 . retrieved february 2 2013 . a b c dozen bake shop hopes for payoff from two for one move . pittsburgh business times . september 6 2010 . retrieved february 2 2013 . landsel david march 28 2011 . springtime for pittsburgh . new york post . new york city . machosky michael july 8 2011 . dozen bake shop to close two locations . pittsburgh tribune review . retrieved february 2 2013 . a b schooley tim jul 8 2011 . dozen bake shop put up for sale . pittsburgh business times . retrieved february 2 2013 . a b c schooley tim august 4 2011 . buyer steps forward for dozen bakeshop . pittsburgh business times . retrieved february 2 2013 . jones susan january 19 2012 . judge eliminates pittsburgh s next great baker . pittsburgh tribune review . retrieved february 2 2013 . dozen closing in oakland opening in south hills . https twitter.com dozenbakeshop status 382277476615196672 wetli patty january 16 2012 . fritz pastry reopens with new menu new direction hello rice krispies . roscoe view journal . retrieved february 2 2013 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to dozen bake shop . official website coordinates 40 27 51 n 79 57 58 w 40.46428 n 79.96623 w 40.46428 ; 79.96623 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title dozen bake shop & oldid 743623568 categories bakeries of the united statesrestaurants in pittsburgh2006 establishments in pennsylvaniarestaurants established in 2006hidden categories commons category with page title same as on wikidatacoordinates on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages add links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 12 49 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view