Michigan bakery sells Hoffa cupcakes

MILFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. --Cupcakes aren't usually a best-seller at the Milford Baking Company. But since the addition of a plastic green hand emerging from the chocolate-flavored sprinkles and frosting meant to resemble dirt, the bakery can't make enough of the desserts.

In the week since dozens of FBI agents, police and others invaded this small community 30 miles northwest of Detroit to search for the remains of former Teamsters chief Jimmy Hoffa, local businesses are taking advantage of the national spotlight aimed at them.

With humorous signs, specially made T-shirts and themed meals, business owners are poking fun at the search while trying to attract more customers.

About 500 of the 95-cent cupcakes had been sold as of Wednesday afternoon, with orders coming in from all over the Detroit area. One businessman even waited outside the bakery at 5 a.m. so he could treat co-workers, and an FBI agent ordered three dozen to take to those working at the dig site, co-owner Laura Helwig said.

While basketball-shaped Detroit Pistons cookies also are a popular item, the Hoffa cupcakes are the best single-day seller ever at the bakery, Helwig said.

The bakery has ordered an additional 700 green hands with the expectation that demand will remain high. The FBI has said the search, which began May 17 at the Hidden Dreams horse farm, is expected to last a couple of weeks. The FBI on Wednesday intensified its search for Hoffa's remains, using an excavating machine to knock down a barn.

"I never dreamed it would take off like this," Helwig said as she put icing on a batch of Pistons cookies. "We're just trying to have fun with the whole thing."

Another local business, Main Street Art, has sold 50 to 75 T-shirts with an ironed-on decal that reads: "The FBI Digs Milford, Do You?"

Main Street Art owner Leslie Watson said she has received orders for the $15 shirts from as far away as Virginia and Florida.

"We thought there would be interest here, but not nationally," Watson said. "We're just trying to keep up."

Business owners are quick to say they're not trying to offend but want to have a little fun with the media hoopla.

Lu & Ruby's Bar & Grill offers a $12.95 Hoffa Steak Salad "buried under field greens with mushrooms and edible flowers."

The local Dairy Queen changes its large white sign daily with new sayings. On Wednesday, it read: "Old McMaster Had A Barn EE I EE I O," referring to Rolland McMaster, a Hoffa associate who owned the farm at the time of the former Teamster leader's disappearance in 1975.

"We've been having a great time," Dairy Queen manager Joyce McNulty said. "People tell us they can't wait to drive by daily to see the new signs."

Across the street at Bakers of Milford, a restaurant and banquet hall, general manager Angelo Nardoni said his business also was having some fun with the situation.

On Wednesday, its sign read "Hoffa Mile Down The Road Experienced Diggers Wanted" on one side and "Welcome To Milford Have A Hoffa Day!!" on the other.

"The whole town is abuzz," Nardoni said. "But if it's got to be somewhere, why not here?"

Although some members of the community are focusing on the goings-on at the farm, Milford Township hasn't changed much to Lynnette West, a 65-year-old resident of nearby Highland Township.

As she shopped downtown Wednesday afternoon, West said most residents were busy with planting flowers and preparing for the annual Memorial Day parade.

"I wish they'd find him," she said. "I just think it's a waste of money though."