Hopscotch Bakery + Market — Restaurant in Champaign

I submitted a wedding inquiry with Hopscotch at the beginning of May and received a response relatively quickly from the owner, Kaya Tate. After looking over the website and weighing my options, I sent Kaya a response letting her know that I would like to secure an order and schedule a tasting. I paid my deposit on May 31st. One June 24th, I asked her in an email about the tasting, as I had not heard from her since I paid my deposit. She didn't answer me until July 15th and her response was that she would get with me to set up an appointment once her shop was finally open. Her shop opened in July and I eagerly waited for a call. On August 26th I had to email her again to see if we could finally set up a tasting appointment. She didn't answer until September 5th to ask what flavors I was interested in and said that there wouldn't be an appointment, but simply a tasting box that I would pick up from the store. It was implied that we would have a physical meeting and that I would have the opportunity to try the cupcakes and pick my favorites, but now I only had the choice to pick three cupcakes for a tasting box and hope that they were good. I planned on getting three flavors of cupcakes for my wedding reception and so only choosing three to try was very limiting. By September 20th, I still hadn't heard anything from Kaya, so I went to the shop to see if I could get any further with her in person. At this point, my wedding was about two months away and I couldn't afford to wait around several weeks between emails anymore. I asked the woman at the counter about the tasting box that Kaya had mentioned and she told me that they don't do tasting boxes and that I would have to purchase the cupcakes that I wanted to try. I put a deposit down and was purchasing 144 cupcakes for my event already, now my taste testing appointment turned taste test box with three options had been downgraded again to buying the cupcakes that I wanted to taste individually? I told her which flavors that I wanted to try and gave her my phone number so that she could call me when the flavors that I wanted to try were available in the case for sale in the shop. I left and called my fiancé to discuss the situation, who then called Hopscotch to speak to Kaya herself. She was told that Kaya was busy and that "they only opened about 7 weeks ago." Shortly after their phone call, I received an email from Kaya stating that there would be a taste test box with my three flavors ready on September 27th. I arrived to pick up the box and when I opened it, there were only two cupcakes inside. I asked the woman behind the counter where the third cupcake was and her response was that they were out of strawberries and that there was nothing that they could do. I asked if I could go to the store and buy her some strawberries and explained that my wedding was less than a month and a half away and that we had started this process clear back in May. I then asked to speak to Kaya. I was told that she was busy in the back and that she couldn't come speak with me. I left the box of two cupcakes and said that I would email Kaya. I then emailed Kaya requesting my deposit back, as we had spent four months getting nowhere. Less than five minutes after I sent that email, she had already refunded my deposit, which was the fastest correspondence that I had gotten out of Kaya since we spoke in May. There was no further communication, she was just as done with me as I was with her. The deposit has now made it into my bank account, leaving me less than a month to find and coordinate with another bakery for my wedding. This place is adorable and their treats are tasty, but they are not capable of handling a wedding or any other large event. If they can't make three cupcakes in four whole months, they are certainly not capable of making 144 cupcakes for one...

We submitted a wedding inquiry with Hopscotch at the beginning of May and received a fast response from the owner. We were told that we could schedule a tasting once a deposit was paid. We paid the deposit at the end of May. At the end of June we still hadn't heard from the owner so I emailed her. She didn't respond until mid July and told us we could schedule something once her shop was open. Her shop opened in July and by the end of August I still hadn't heard from her so I emailed again. She answered early September and asked what three flavors to put in a tasting box. She implied that we would receive an appointment where we could try several options, but now we could only choose three to try in a box. We planned on buying three types for the reception, so that was very limiting. At the end of September, with the wedding less than two months away, I still hadn't heard anything from her so my fiance went to the store to try and speak with her in person. The worker at the counter said that they don't do tasting boxes and that we just needed to buy the cupcakes that we wanted to try, but there were only two options in the case to buy and try that day and we weren't interested in either of those flavors. She explained that we were promised a tasting appointment, then downgraded to a tasting box. Now we were being asked to buy single cupcakes in store when that the ones in store weren't ones that we wanted to try. She gave the employee her number and told her to call us if they made some different cupcakes over the next few days. We hadn't gotten a call that week about differnet cupcakes so I called Hopscotch to speak with the owner over the phone, but the employee who answered said that she was too busy in the back to talk. The owner then emailed me and gave me a date to come pick up a tasting box with the three flavors that I wanted to try, which was nice, as we though that nixed that idea. My fiance arrived to pick up the box and there were only two cupcakes inside. The employee explained that they ran out of an ingredient and so they just didn't make the third option. She explained that she started this long process back in back in May and that our wedding was only 38 days away and we still hadn't been given the option to try three different cupcakes. She asked to speak to the owner again and was told once more that she was busy in back. She left and then emailed the owner asking for the deposit back and within about five minutes we had our refund. Hopscotch should not offer wedding services if they can't back them up. We spent about five months trying to just arrange a way to try just three flavors and got nowhere.

Update: We went to Cream & Flutter in Champaign and were able to sample an array of cupcakes, brownies, cookies, and macarons. They even sat down to discuss pricing and display options with us. If you are looking for a local bakery for a wedding, skip the endless months of emailing and frustration with Hopscotch and just go to Cream &...

Do not order cupcakes from Hopscotch Bakery. My cupcakes for a birthday party were burned (see photo). They had too much salt which was located/pooled at the bottom of the cupcakes. The cupcakes should have tasted much better given their appearance. They were pleasing to the eyes; however, not to the taste & it was disappointing. In other words, they tasted nasty! The cake itself was dense; similar to corn muffins, & were not light & fluffy like cake. The cake tasted like corn muffins & most of the kids at our party would not eat them - at all. Comments such as, "I don't like these," was common & I agree. If I made cupcakes this way at home, I would have thrown them all away & started over. The frosting was thick & there was far too much of it on such a small cake. The cost was roughly $3.00 per cupcake & most of them were waisted. Customer service is problematic as well to me. They do not answer the phone & only want customers to text them for bakery questions. They give short answers via text & send mostly automated responses. They just are not very helpful with your order. No options to tailor your order to your personal specifications which frustrated me. No allergy options. In person, they were just as impersonal. I do not recommend this bakery. I really like shopping & purchasing orders from local companies, but I will not order again with...