Crumbs to test supermarket sales inside Mariano's

Crumbs Bake Shop is teaming up with Mariano’s supermarkets to reach more customers for its cupcakes and other baked goods.

Crumbs will have a snack bar inside Mariano’s new store in west suburban Westchester that will sell 25 flavors of Crumbs cupcakes and 15 varieties of its brownies. The Westchester store is scheduled to open Tuesday, Nov. 4.

If the Westchester snack bar proves popular, Crumbs and Mariano’s will add them at other supermarkets.

“We approached Mariano’s because of their outstanding commitment to grocery quality, merchandising and customer satisfaction,” Crumbs owner Marcus Lemonis said in a news release. “Mariano’s is my favorite local grocery store and it made sense to partner these two great brands together.”

Crumbs Bake Shop has reopened about two dozen stores nationwide, including one at Chicago’s Water Tower Place, since Oct. 14. The company plans to open a Highland Park store soon.

Lemonis, a Chicago-area businessman and host of CNBC’s “The Profit,” and Fischer Enterprises, owner of Dippin’ Dots ice cream, bought the cupcake chain out of bankruptcy court this summer.

Mariano’s, a division of Milwaukee-based Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc., has rapidly expanded in the Chicago area over the past year by opening new stores and taking over store spaces vacated by Dominick’s.