A Cupcake War at King of Cupcakes

The once sugary-sweet relationship between a Seventh Avenue cupcakery and its hush-hush business partner turned bitter last week, erupting in an all out cupcake war.

, the five-month old cupcake shop on Seventh Avenue between Fourth and Fifth streets, shuttered suddenly last week after months of disagreements between the store’s operators and its majority stakeholder, Ricky’s NYC, the beauty supply chain.

Co-owner Sean Rich said the store’s closure was a case of confectioner-on-confectioner crime.

“I don’t think we got along from first meeting,” Rich said. “We wanted to run it like a small business, but they wanted to run it like a chain. There were too many chiefs and not enough Indians.”

Rich said that he and his two partners (his fiancé and cousin) were thrilled when an executive at Ricky’s called Rich looking to sell his cupcakes in Ricky’s stores. Ricky’s eventually offered Rich and his team a 49 percent share in the Seventh Avenue storefront instead, but the deal quickly soured.

According to Rich, the chain’s atrocities included failing to provide Rich and company with a contract for months, and asking Rich to force his cousin out of the operation after only a few weeks in business. Worse yet – the beauty supply chain constantly interfered with the management of the store.

“They tried to change our name to Mama’s Café and they kept telling us that pie was the next big thing. It was ridiculous. They changed their minds every week,” said Rich. “We would sit there in a three hour meeting and discuss why we were selling more chocolate than vanilla.”

On St. Patty’s Day, Ricky’s severed ties with Rich and his fiancé, and shut down the store.

But according to Ricky’s, the chain was forced to part ways after Rich ran the chain’s investment into the ground.

“The team in place had no experience in running a business and they were running it into the red every month,” Ricky’s NYC said in a statement. “We needed to stop the bleeding ASAP.”

“There is a saying that you can’t do good business with bad people,” the statement continued.

Last month, when , Rich admitted to Patch that his store wasn't doing too well.

"We’re way down this season,” he said, citing bad weather as the probable cause.

Ricky’s said it hopes to sell the business as soon as possible. Rich and his fiancé, meanwhile, continue making cupcakes and selling them through their catering operation. They hope to eventually open up another brick-and-mortar cupcake shop.

“We got to live the dream for five months,” said Rich. “It was just like Conan O’Brien – except I’m not getting $33 million from NBC to go away.”

He continued: “But the King will rise again.”