Cupcake shop owner: The craze isn't dead

Sweet Arleen's Founder Arleen Scavone says the cupcake industry is alive and well, despite closing of Crumbs Bakery

Depending who you talk to, the cupcake craze is getting a little stale.

With the shuttering this week of Crumbs Bake Shop– one of the country’s largest cupcake chains -- many proclaim that America has gotten tired of the sweet treat.

Arleen Scavone, founder of Sweet Arleen's, is taking the long view. The Food Network's "Cupcake Wars" champ says there's still an appetite for cupcakes and is putting her money where her mouth is by setting up her own franchise.

"The cupcake still stands tall," Scavone told FoxNews.com. "We're opening three new stores this summer alone ... our demand continues to rise."

Scavone, a former banker, says the closing of Crumbs Bake Shop is to be expected with any kind of trend in a business cycle.

"We see consolidation, we see expansion," Scavone said. "Crumbs just kind of strayed from its core business model and they've closed, and it gives us an opportunity to continue on with a great strategy and a great product."

For Scavone, the key is not just banking on the individual sale, but focusing on selling a singular product in bulk. And she says there is a market for that.

"They're used for weddings, they're used on our food trucks, they're used for birthdays," Scavone said. "People are seeing that an individual sized dessert is a great option to what might have been needing to order a full cake and, as we all know, slices of cake at all events are always left on the table uneaten."

But what about other trendy individual desserts, like the macaron or the Cronut?

"It makes for more marketing around cupcakes and in general," Scavone replied. And as far as taste is concern, the cupcake is still king. "I think in terms of the life span of a Cronut, I'm not sure. To me, it's still pretty sweet and I kind of like our not-so-sweet edge in our icings, within our cupcakes."