C.Cups Cupcakery — Restaurant in Pinehurst

My review is strictly about the service. We arrived in beautiful Pinehurst Village on the morning of Thursday, July 23rd, and after grabbing coffee at a cafe, we arrived at C. Cups just after they opened at 11. I had seen that they offer gluten-free cupcakes, and I was excited to see if they’d have something I can eat. I have many food allergies, including several which might be (but aren’t necessarily) contained in GF cupcakes. We were the first customers in the shop and nobody else was waiting. Because I have many allergies, I am well-schooled in asking nicely for ingredients and approached the clerk with a smile.

I asked if she could please share the ingredients in the GF flour they use. “No.” (Nothing else, just “No.”)

What? How do people with allergies know if they can eat your cupcakes? “We don’t share our recipes.” (Said unapologetically with an edge to her voice.)

I’m not asking for your recipe. I’m simply asking for ingredients, I said, and GF flour often has corn in it. “Ask me specific questions, if you want.”

Fine. For starters, I can’t eat wheat, corn, dairy, eggs, soy, or cinnamon, I told her. She just stared at me with an “I can’t believe you’re still here” look on her face.

So I asked a specific question. What kind of flour do you use? “I can’t say. I can only answer specific questions.”

Oh, good grief… Is it rice flour? “Yes.” Is it a blend? “It’s rice flour.” (Okay, so maybe it’s rice flour, and maybe it’s not. She isn’t very convincing, so maybe she doesn’t know and just can’t be bothered to look or ask. If it has corn or soy, I might wind up in the ER, so my interest is waning.)

Do the GF cupcakes have eggs? “Yes.” Okay, fine, I’m outta here. It would have been sooooooo easy to just tell me that from the beginning. After this fine customer service, my husband had no interest in making a purchase, either, so we left.

Since then, I’ve had other restaurateurs in Pinehurst - and even the sellers at the Farmer’s Market - be so over-the-top helpful about allergens that I realize it isn’t the local culture to be rude and unhelpful to customers.

This is the first poor review I’ve ever posted which is why I’ve waited a few days to do it. I feel the need to issue a warning to others with similar allergies to mine - stay away from this place. From my experience, I can see they have very little interest in accommodating the needs of customers with allergies. Good owners school their staff members on how to deal with this very real problem, and there was obviously no training done here.

The only reason I gave two stars is that is an attractive little shop in a...

With us moving to the area, we wanted to have the experience of tasting what all rave about. The opportunity never came due to walking in with our masks on and standing for approximately 3 minutes watching the individual stand behind the counter without a mask talking on the phone over the cupcakes and touching many of the cupcakes. Another individual then walked out from the back with a face mask on, but that was too late knowing the one individual took no interest in trying to protect customers from covid 19; whether through conversation or exposing all cupcakes...

I wish I could remember the precious young ladies name who helped me on 8/15/24 around 4pm.

She was kind, knowledgeable and professional. The store is clean and the party plates, cupcake toppers, etc are SO cute!!

I ordered a 6 pack of cupcakes that were delicious but what really surprised me was the doggie cupcake. My dog is the pickiest eater. She has never eaten a dog treat and we actually have to make her dog food because she refused to eat any store bought. She INHALED her cupcake. My daughter and I were shocked....