Sprinkles Cupcakes

Last updated
Sprinkles Cupcakes
Company type Private
IndustryBakery
Founded2005 in Beverly Hills, CA, United States
Founders Candace Nelson, Charles Nelson
Headquarters,
United States
ProductsCupcakes
Cakes
Cookies
Chocolates
Website sprinkles.com

Sprinkles Cupcakes is a bakery chain established in 2005. It is considered the world's first cupcake bakery. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

History

In 2002, Candace Nelson and her husband Charles Nelson, both investment bankers, [4] visited Candace's sister in New York and tried the cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery. Candace decided that it was "time for cupcakes to stop being the backup dancer to cakes." [5] Having started a custom cake business after attending Tante Marie's Pastry Program in San Francisco, she set her sights on cupcakes. "I was taking orders for special occasion cakes which I came to realize are, by definition, reserved for special, infrequent occasions," she said. "I wanted to create an artful and handcrafted dessert, yet one which people could eat on a daily basis...which led me to reinvent and elevate the lowly cupcake." [6] [7]

Although starting a cupcake bakery was a "high-risk venture" [1] and the bakery business was in a four-year no carb decline, [8] the Nelsons pursued their dream. Their "sleek, minimalistic" store was designed by an architect from Vienna [9] and the logo and packaging were created by a former Martha Stewart employee with design help from graphic designers Kevin Hagen and David Irvin. [9] On April 13, 2005, [9] the Nelsons opened Sprinkles' first store on Little Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills. On the first day, the cupcakes sold out in three hours, [9] and 2,000 cupcakes were sold the first week. [4]

Candace is described as taking a "sophisticated" twist on the classic cupcake, using ingredients like sweet cream butter, pure Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, Callebaut chocolate, fresh bananas and carrots, real strawberries, and natural citrus zests. [10] She also creates products such as vegan and gluten-free cupcakes [11] and even cupcakes with dog-friendly ingredients. [12] The cupcakes are baked fresh daily and are free from preservatives, trans fats, and artificial flavors. [13]

In 2018, Sprinkles began offering layer cakes in varying flavors.

Locations

Sprinkles has 25 locations throughout the United States (Beverly Hills, Chicago, Dallas, Georgetown, The Grove, Downtown Los Angeles, Westlake Village, Houston, La Jolla, New York City, Palo Alto, Scottsdale, Las Vegas, Tampa, San Ramon, and Newport Beach), [14] with plans to open in 15 more cities including London and Tokyo. [9] The Nelsons also started a traveling "Sprinklesmobile", a Mercedes Sprinter van designed by Sprinkles architect Andrea Lenardin and built by "Pimp My Ride's" West Coast Customs. [15] In February 2011 Sprinkles released an iPhone app that features free cupcakes and virtual gifting. [16]

Sprinkles Cupcakes opened its first New York City store on May 13, 2011. [17] In late 2016, a location opened in Downtown Disney at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. [18]

Cupcake ATM

Sprinkles Cupcake ATM in Las Vegas, Nevada Cupcake ATM - Sprinkles Las Vegas Strip (22475703785).jpg
Sprinkles Cupcake ATM in Las Vegas, Nevada

On March 6, 2012, Sprinkles Cupcakes opened the world's first Cupcake ATM in Beverly Hills. The second opened a few months later in Chicago. A third is at the company's bakery in Dallas, and the fourth outside the Lexington Avenue branch in New York City. The Cupcake ATMs dispense cupcakes and doggie cupcakes (pupcakes) 24 hours a day and are continuously restocked with freshly baked cupcakes. Each can hold up to 600 cupcakes at a time. [19] Sprinkles currently has 30 ATMs located in areas such as malls and airports.

Ordering Cupcakes

There are 3 ways to order based on your zip code – 1. Local Bakery Pickup, 2. Local Bakery Delivery, or 3. Nationwide Shipping. Orders can be placed via website, Sprinkles App, by phone, or in-bakery. Via website, Sprinkles offers local and national shipping. Sprinkles LOCAL is the fastest way to order cupcakes, cookies, and brownies for pick-up or delivery from any of the local bakeries. Sprinkles NATIONAL is perfect for sending orders to addresses outside of the local bakery delivery radius. They ship to all U.S. states excluding Alaska and Hawaii.

Sprinkles Chocolates

Sprinkles has launched a new line of premium chocolates inspired by some of their iconic cupcake flavors. New Chocolate Bars and Mini Chocolates are now available at all bakeries. The chocolates are also currently sold in Walmart and Targets across the country. Chocolate bars are made with real chocolate from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms. They are offered in four flavors including Red Velvet, Salted Caramel, Sprinkle, and Milk Chocolate. The Sprinkles Mini Chocolate Bites include Red Velvet and Salted Caramel. Embossed with the Sprinkles logo and its signature modern dot, the chocolate bars and the minis make for easy snacking and sharing.

Sprinkles Ice Cream

On May 24, 2012, Sprinkles expanded its dessert brand with the opening of Sprinkles Ice Cream next door to its cupcake bakery in Beverly Hills, and later in 2013, in Newport Beach's Corona del Mar Plaza and in Dallas in The Plaza at Preston Center. Ice cream is no longer available on the menu except at the Disney Springs location. However, they do offer other delicious treats in addition to cupcakes like freshly baked cookies, brownies, layer cakes and chocolates.

Celebrity endorsements

Sprinkles has gained many celebrity endorsements. [20] [21] Oprah Winfrey, Barbra Streisand, Tyra Banks, Katie Holmes, Paris Hilton, [22] Blake Lively, Ryan Seacrest, Tom Cruise, [23] and Jake Gyllenhaal are among its customers. [24]

Barbra Streisand was one of Sprinkles' first customers and introduced Oprah Winfrey to the brand by sending her a box of cupcakes. Only eight months after opening Sprinkles, Charles and Candace received a call from Harpo Studios that Oprah needed 300 cupcakes for her studio audience in Chicago the next morning for Breakfast with Oprah, wherein she showcases her favorite delicacies. The couple managed to catch an overnight flight, and the cupcakes were featured on Oprah's show. Soon after, sales in their Beverly Hills location increased 50%, to 1,500 cupcakes daily. [25]

Sprinkles has also appeared on The Today Show and Nightline , [26] as well as Entourage [21] and The Girls Next Door . [1]

Sprinkles played a role in Tom Cruise's courtship of Katie Holmes. [1] At Christmas in 2007, the Cruises sent out boxes of holiday-themed Sprinkles cupcakes to friends and associates. [25]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cake</span> Flour-based baked sweet

Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate and which share features with desserts such as pastries, meringues, custards, and pies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Icing (food)</span> Food producing method

Icing, or frosting, is a sweet, often creamy glaze made of sugar with a liquid, such as water or milk, that is often enriched with ingredients like butter, egg whites, cream cheese, or flavorings. It is used to coat or decorate baked goods, such as cakes. When it is used between layers of cake it is known as a filling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sprinkles</span> Tiny multi-colored candy topping

Sprinkles are small pieces of confectionery used as an often colorful decoration or to add texture to desserts such as brownies, cupcakes, doughnuts or ice cream. The tiny candies are produced in a variety of colors and are generally used as a topping or a decorative element. The Dictionary of American Regional English defines them as "tiny balls or rod-shaped bits of candy used as a topping for ice-cream, cakes and other."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cupcake</span> Small single-serving cake, often frosted

A cupcake, fairy cake (BrE), or bun (IrE) is a small cake designed to serve one person, which may be baked in a small thin paper or aluminum cup. As with larger cakes, frosting and other cake decorations such as fruit and candy may be applied.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brigadeiro</span> Brazilian chocolate truffle

The brigadeiro is a traditional Brazilian dessert. The origin of the dessert is uncertain, but the most common theory is that it was created by a confectioner from Rio de Janeiro, Heloísa Nabuco de Oliveira, to promote the presidential candidacy of Eduardo Gomes. It is made of condensed milk, cocoa powder, butter cooked to Soft-ball stage caramel, with chocolate sprinkles covering the outside layer, making the surface non-sticking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red velvet cake</span> Reddish chocolate cake with cream cheese icing

Red velvet cake is traditionally a red, crimson, or scarlet-colored layer cake, layered with ermine icing or cream cheese icing. Traditional recipes do not use food coloring, with the red color possibly due to non-Dutched, anthocyanin-rich cocoa, and possibly due to the usage of brown sugar, formerly called red sugar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Layer cake</span> Cake made from stacked layers of cake held together by filling

A layer cake or sandwich cake is a cake consisting of multiple stacked sheets of cake, held together by a filling such as frosting, jam, or other preserves. Most cake recipes can be adapted for layer cakes; butter cakes and sponge cakes are common choices. Frequently, the cake is covered with icing, but sometimes, the sides are left undecorated, so that the filling and the number of layers are visible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swiss roll</span> Sponge cake formed in a spiral roll, with filling

A Swiss roll, jelly roll, roll cake, cream roll, roulade or Swiss log or swiss cake —is a type of rolled sponge cake filled with whipped cream, jam, icing, or any type of filling. The origins of the term are unclear; in spite of the name "Swiss roll", the cake is believed to have originated elsewhere in Central Europe, possibly Austria or Slovenia. It appears to have been invented in the nineteenth century, along with Battenberg cake, doughnuts, and Victoria sponge. In the U.S., commercial snack-sized versions of the cake are sold with the brand names Ho Hos, Yodels, Swiss Cake Rolls, and others. A type of roll cake called Yule log is traditionally served at Christmas.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheet cake</span> Cake baked in a flat rectangular pan

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"Oprah's Favorite Things" was an annual segment that appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show from the 1990s to 2008 and 2010, as well as on Rachael Ray in 2017. In the segment, which airs during Thanksgiving week and was inspired by the holiday song "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music, Oprah Winfrey shared products with her audience that she felt were noteworthy or that would make a great gift. In addition, the audience members that were present during the taping of the episode receive items from that year's list for free.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cake balls</span> Piece of cake coated with chocolate or frosting

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<i>Cupcake Wars</i> 2009 American TV series or program

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