Tabitha Meready, owner of The Peppered Cupcake, announced last week that she will open a second location in Racine Commons in September. 

Meready launched the business in Kinston in 2008 before bringing her “peppered” and warm cupcakes to Wilmington and opening shop at 105 S. Front St. in early 2014. 

The signature “peppered” cupcakes are frosted with cream cheese buttercream and topped with spicy compotes or jams as well as a sprinkle of black pepper, offering a sweet and savory experience. Many of the flavors are served warm and each cupcake is finished to order so that all the toppings stay fresh. Meready said some of her best sellers are the smashed bananas foster, the mango habanero, crème brulee and the peach and lavender cobbler. 

“I think what separates us the most is that we think outside the box with flavors,” Meready said.

The Peppered Cupcake has created more than 100 different flavors and offers a minimum of 15 different flavors daily, with up to 30 on the weekends. The display cases at the new location will hold even more varieties.

Meready hopes to become a gathering space for UNCW students to hang out or study and enjoy a sweet and some coffee.

Racine Commons was the first location Meready considered when she began scouting locations back in 2013, along with The Forum and Landfall Center. She had not intended to open a cupcake shop downtown because of the close proximity to Coastal Cupcakes and Pink Baking Co. (Formerly Hot Pink Cake Stand). But downtown was where she landed, and with her unique take on traditional cupcakes, she said she has successfully grown the business despite the nearby competition. 

Meready said that a No. 1 ranking on Trip Advisor for desserts in Wilmington, along with Facebook, has been all the advertising she has needed to propel her business to the level of expanding to a second location. She notes however that many of her customers downtown are tourists, and she hears all the time from Wilmington residents that they had never heard of The Peppered Cupcake.

“Our biggest intent with the new location is to get to know Wilmington and to be more accessible to the residents of this community,” Meready said. 

The Peppered Cupcake’s second location will be at 260 Racine Drive, Unit 7. 

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