Groupon gone wrong: UK baker calls using Groupon response "an absolute nightmare" and "worst ever business decision I have made"

Big story making the rounds from the UK about Need a Cake Bakery. From the Daily Mail:

After 25 years in the baking business, Rachel Brown knew her exquisitely decorated cupcakes were popular. She just didn’t realise how popular.

So when she decided to drum up a little extra trade with a discount deal, she bit off more than she could chew.

Swamped by orders, Mrs Brown, who normally makes 100 cupcakes a month, found herself having to bake an astonishing 102,000.

According to Mashable:

“We approach each business with a tailored, individual approach based on the prior history of similar deals,” Groupon’s international communications director Heather Dickinson told the BBC, adding that there was no limit to the number of vouchers that could be sold.

We’ve heard of small businesses having similar experiences before, and many of them aren’t too happy with Groupon. The lesson is clear: Groupon is a business tool like any other. It’s not for everyone, and its use requires careful planning – too large a discount, for example, can have unwanted consequences.

Cupcakes 101 Icing Class At Butter Lane

This just seen on Groupon! $25 for a Cupcakes 101 Icing Class including cupcakes to take home! Famed bakery Butter Lane is offering this class at their East Village (NY) location on East Seventh Street. If you're in New York and are a cupcake enthusiast you should grab this deal FAST as quantities are limited! Check it out here!

From the Groupon description:
During the one-hour Cupcakes 101 class, small groups of about 12 students don aprons and proceed to fully stocked prep stations to make Butter Lane's delectable frostings. Sweet-toothed snackers learn the recipes for Butter Lane's classic American chocolate, vanilla-bean, and cream-cheese flavors and even make their own versions of non-traditional toppings such as raspberry, peanut butter, and cinnamon. Once recipes have been mastered, students clothe bare cupcakes with custom designs and learn the secret to Butter Lane's technique and signature swirl, eventually competing for the prize of Best Icer in a stadium arena. When the class concludes, students take home recipes and a barbershop's dozen of four deliciously and personally prepared cupcakes.