Cinnabon: Life needs frosting

April 9, 2022

World-famous cinnamons.

It was December 4, 1985, when the first Cinnabon opened in Federal Way, Washington at SeaTac Mall, now called The Commons at Federal Way.

It all started with Rich Komen and Ray Lindstrom, owners of Seattle Based Restaurants Unlimited restaurant chain. They had a yearning to make the perfect cinnamon roll and hired famous Seattle baker, Jerilyn Brusseau, to create it.

Typically found in high pedestrian traffic areas, such as shopping malls, airports, rest stops, gas stations, universities, rapid transit stations casinos, universities, and so on, Cinnabon makes the most amazing cinnamon rolls.

You simply cannot walk past a Cinnabon store without stopping to buy one. In fact, the cinnamon rolls are so delicious that folks are trying to make them at home from one of the hundreds of cinnamon roll recipes on the Internet. But, there’s only one true Cinnabon cinnamon roll!

Totally confident that theirs was the best cinnamon roll, Komen and Lindstrom opened their first bakery with a sign that read, World Famous Cinnamon Rolls.

Franchising was part of their plan and, in 1986, the first franchise-operated store opened at the King of Prussia Mall located just outside of Philadelphia. Today, there are 644 Cinnabon locations in the United States and 27 in Canada. Altogether, there more than 1,200 Cinnabon bakeries operating in 48 countries. 

Cinnabon’s headquarters are in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States.

In 1998, Cinnabon was bought by AFC Enterprises, Inc. for $65 million. In 2004, AFC Enterprises, Inc., sold the business to FOCUS Brands, Inc., for $30.3 million.

In 2020, EG Group announced a partnership with Cinnabon to open 150 branded stores in the UK over five years.

Gloria Sauvé
Communications and Marketing

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.