It is not your typical dessert shop. Instead, it is a I result of the craft of love, passion, and dedication.
Cinnaholic is home to the original, gourmet cinnamon roll. It was formed with a strong mission to solve everyone’s dessert cravings. Today, it is counted among the fastest-growing bakery franchises in the USA.
We, at The Franchise Universe, caught up with LeAnne Cavallaro, the Director of Operations at Cinnaholic, to know more about Cinnaholic, its flexible business model, relatively low operating costs, and high-quality, delicious products that make consumers come back for time and time again.
From Bakery Concept to Franchising Business
Cinnaholic was founded in 2010 by a husband-andwife team of Florian and Shannon Radke. The couple took their plant-based bakery concept to Shark Tank in 2014, and after the show, the deal fell through, and the couple decided to turn to franchising. Since then, Cinnaholic has grown to over 60 locations with plans to rapidly grow in 2021-2022.
Using High-Quality Ingredients
Everything served at Cinnaholic bakeries is plantbased, which is unique and sets the company apart from other national brands. All of Cinnaholic’s products are fresh-baked, 100% plant-based, dairy and lactose-free, egg-free, and cholesterol-free. It uses the highest quality ingredients and fresh fruit in all the products it serves.
One of its top sellers is the Cookie Monster Roll, made with cream cheese frosting topped with homemade chocolate chip cookie dough, chocolate chips, and chocolate sauce. In addition to its signature, fresh-baked cinnamon rolls, Cinnaholic’s menu features bite-sized Baby Buns, cookies, brownies and raw, edible cookie dough. It proudly serves locally sourced coffee (at most locations) and offers many customizable catering options. Cinnaholic is proud to serve create-your-own cinnamon rolls, and other sweet treats like made
from scratch brownies, cookies, and edible cookie dough. Guests are able to select from over 20 unique frosting flavors and a variety of fresh and decadent toppings for their cinnamon rolls. They can mix and match flavors to create a new experience every visit!
Treating Employees as Family
Franchising and expansion of a new brand is always a challenge due to many factors such as achieving customer satisfaction, finding quality franchise partners, securing great locations, and building a great corporate team. Cinnaholic stood tall on every challenge.
Cinnaholic wants its customers to feel like they are returning to a comforting harbor at all of its locations. It feels the success of its brand is reflected in the dedication and passion of its franchise partners, its corporate team, and its employees whom it considers “family”.
There is a swallow featured in the Cinnaholic logo derived from a traditional sailor tattoo, which symbolizes experience, team value, and family. This reflects Cinnaholic’s position in the market and its relation with its stakeholders.
Adapting Appropriately to Deal with Unprecedented Circumstances
Talking about the impact of the pandemic, LeAnne mentions that COVID-19 definitely threw most restaurant concepts for a loop, but Cinnaholic was able to overcome the significant challenges by adding online ordering to all locations and ramping up third-party delivery partnerships.
Many operators in the industry would agree – getting its supply chain back to pre-covid operations can’t come soon enough. Covid-19 created a lot of supply chain obstacles for the food and beverage industry as a whole. Cinnaholic’s timelines have been interrupted based on what’s happening with its suppliers, but it has been adapting appropriately.
Striving for a Positive Work Culture
At Cinnaholic, positive work culture is something everyone strives for. “Having a comfortable environment to work in is a must and sharing the success of the company growth with others is important,” says LeAnne.
Extending Gratitude to All Guests
When it comes to giving back to the community, Cinnaholic is always a step ahead. The company feels that being connected in local communities is such a huge way to extend its gratitude to all the guests who choose Cinnaholic when they’re craving a delicious treat.
Many of its locations partner with schools and nonprofit organizations for fundraising. Besides, Cinnaholic has had locations donate food and supplies to tornado victims in TN, healthcare workers in FL & NJ, just to name a few.
LeAnne believes that in franchising, especially at Cinnaholic’s stage, it’s important as a local owner and operator to value every interaction and be creative in the ways one builds brand recognition.
Sustaining Quality of Products and Continuing to Deliver Value
Cinnaholic will sustain itself due to the quality of products it serves and the great value it offers. It prides itself in serving fresh, hot from the oven cinnamon rolls that one can customize. There aren’t too many restaurant concepts that can do that for consumers in the dessert/treat industry. In the next five years, Cinnaholic plans to have 150 locations in the US and Canada.
Choosing Suitable Franchising
In her advice to aspiring and emerging franchises in the food and beverages industry, LeAnne says, “Make sure you find a franchise concept that you can be passionate about. You are going to be spending a lot of time in this effort so make sure you love it especially on its good days and bad.”
