Local vegan bakery Cinnaholic, which opened its flagship store across from campus in 2010, announced last month in a press release its plans to open nine new shop locations in San Diego, Arizona and Colorado.
The cinnamon roll shop — which sells a “100% vegan” product that is dairy, egg and cholesterol free — gained national attention in May 2014, when owners Florian and Shannon Radke appeared on the ABC TV show “Shark Tank” and received a $200,000 investment from investor Robert Herjavec. Since then, the shop has opened five additional locations and has made plans to expand to 100 franchised stores by 2019.
“I think Cinnaholic can become a household name,” said Fred Auzenne, Cinnaholic franchisee and CEO of Legacy Franchise Development Group — a development firm that partners with local operators to establish and manage franchise concepts across the country.
Auzenne said he expects a quick rate of return for the investment in the franchise because of the low cost of goods, rising trend in veganism and high demand for the roll.
Cinnaholic currently offers one type of roll to customers with the choice of more than 30 different frostings and toppings. It plans on maintaining the same concept for all of its new locations.
The success of the franchise was in part due to the simplicity of the product, according to Auzenne. He added that the product allowed for easy training for new employees who “won’t have to memorize menus or come up with different variations.”
There are currently 43 locations including in Atlanta, Los Angeles and San Jose that are in stages of development.
“National expansion has always been on the horizon for us,” said Cinnaholic president Spencer Reid in the release. “Each of these markets presents incredible opportunities to build excitement around the Cinnaholic brand.”