Vegan Cinnamon Roll Bakery Set to Double Its US and Canada Locations

Here's some good news for everyone with a sweet tooth – the national vegan bakery chain Cinnaholic plans to double its locations after its recent franchise expansion. The California-based company is looking to add 60 new locations across the United States and Canada, adding to its current 56 bakeries. The vegan bakery allows customers to customize their own cinnamon rolls by choosing between over 20 different frosting flavors as well as giving customers the choice between dozens of topping options. Everything from the frosting and toppings to the batter itself is made especially vegan to bring the favorite desert to plant-based consumers everywhere.

The expansion effort follows Cinnaholic’s success in combating the financial hardship caused by the COVID-19 restriction. The company’s grab-and-go and delivery methods allowed for its stores to survive the financial lows seen across the food and beverage industry.

“The pandemic still has impacts on our locations with restrictions or store closing - but we have done an amazing job as a franchise system to rise to the challenge so that our fans arable to get the desserts that they’ve fallen in love with, and our franchisees remain successful,” Cinnaholic President Spencer Reid told QSR Magazine. “As a result, many of our franchises have had a great year thus far, and we look forward to the opportunities to come.”

Since the start of 2021, the company has pushed to rapidly expand its locations and nationwide range. Cinnaholic has now partnered with 16 new franchisees, leading to the development of the 60 new locations. The expansion will continue with the development of nearly 10 new production bakeries that will help the existing and new stores manage growing consumer demand.

Franchisees see Cinnaholic as a highly profitable franchise brand due to its manageable operations and low start-up costs, leading to the rapid expansion the company experienced this year. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Cinnaholic still saw a 137 percent increase in its year-over-year same-store sales. The company focus on improving its third-party delivery, new menu items, and online ordering throughout the pandemic to fortify its financial standing. The company also looks for franchisees that will remain involved in the business, carrying out Cinnaholic’s vegan-driven business model.

“We’re always looking for a franchise that is involved. We can tell the difference between active franchise partners versus inactive,” Heather Stennis, director of marketing at Cinnaholic, said. “So we really encourage them to be involved with their day-to-day business. Especially in COVID and being able to reach out to the healthcare workers and schools. As people are navigating their business differently, we still want our franchise partners to be involved with their community, involved with their store.”

After five years of service, the investment reality show Shark Tank featured founders Shannon and Floria Radke. The husband-and-wife team opened their first store in Berkeley, CA in 2009 and after half a decade of success looked to start franchising its now-famous vegan cinnamon roll. The couple accepted Robert Herjavec’s $200,000 offer under the pretense that the funding would go directly towards Cinnaholic’s online sales. Following the show, however, the couple denied the deal to focus on storefront presence rather than online sales, but not ignoring the importance of online ordering.

“When we had the Sharks try our product, we didn’t tell them they were vegan,” Floian told VegNews. “It wasn’t until later in the pitch that we said there was a little secret about our rolls. Mark Cuban guessed cocaine, so I guess he found our rolls addictive.”

Now, the addictive cinnamon rolls can be found across the United States and Canada in cities including Houston, Evanston, Tampa, Victoria, Scottsdale, and many more. As Cinnaholic expands, more Americans will be allowed to try the addictively delicious vegan cinnamon rolls that shocked the Sharks from Shark Tank.