The story of Nothing Bundt Cakes is right there in the name. Ninety-seven percent of the chain’s sales come from bundt cakes. The other 3% come from party supplies, like candles.
Its stores have no dining rooms or even public restrooms. They don’t have much equipment either, though cakes are baked on-site. They come in four sizes and nine flavors, plus seasonal specials, and are topped with fat ribbons of cream cheese frosting. They range in price from about $6 for a single-serve “Bundlet” to $40 for a 10-inch cake.
The simple recipe has proven to be surprisingly successful.
Founded in 1997, Nothing Bundt Cakes now has nearly 800 locations in 45 states. It opened 120 stores last year alone and generated just under $1 billion in annual sales, CEO Dolf Berle said at the ICR investor conference Wednesday. It is owned by private-equity firm Roark Capital, which also owns GoTo Foods, Inspire Brands and Culver’s.
In 2024, Dallas-based Nothing Bundt Cakes was the third-largest snack/beverage chain in the country by sales, according to Technomic data. It's part of a growing market for sweet treats that includes brands like Crumbl, Insomnia Cookies and Swig, the dirty soda chain.
But Nothing Bundt Cakes views itself as distinct from these concepts. Cookies and doughnuts are often impulse buys, whereas cake is all about celebrations and special gatherings, Berle said. And Nothing Bundt Cakes believes it has that particular market cornered.
“We consider ourselves a category of one in the specialty cake business,” he said, “and that is because there is no other national specialty cake business.”
It may be in a league of its own, but most people have still never heard of it. Nothing Bundt Cakes has just 25% brand awareness in the U.S., less than half that of other concepts of its kind, Berle said. But those who know it tend to be big fans. Nothing Bundt Cakes has been named America’s Favorite Chain by Technomic two years in a row, scoring particularly high on service and convenience.
Now it is working to become more of a household name, with a goal of boosting awareness to 30% in the next year or two. It will do that in part by opening a lot more locations. The chain, which is 99% franchised, has more than 560 new bakeries in its pipeline. It wants to grow by about 20% per year, and ultimately sees room for more than 3,000 stores in the U.S., with additional potential overseas. (For context, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, the largest U.S. snack chain, had 1,515 units in 2024.)
Fueling that growth is Nothing Bundt Cakes’ no-frills business model and strong unit economics. The chain’s bakeries generate AUVs of $1.5 million and restaurant-level EBITDA margins of more than 20%, with a 50% cash-on-cash return. They are also simple to operate.
“It operates a little bit more like a retail environment,” Berle said. The average transaction takes two and a half minutes, and there are no drive-thrus or lunch rushes to manage. “The drama so many of us have lived with in the restaurant business is not part of the day to day,” Berle said. And, he added, you smell good at the end of your shift.
The business is so simple, he said, that the company does not want its operators in their stores most of the time. Instead, it wants them to be out in the community, building relationships with people and spreading the word about Nothing Bundt Cakes.
The formula has proven to be appealing for operators. The chain has a 100% franchisee renewal rate, and has only closed two bakeries in its nearly 30-year history.
It has also reeled off 28 consecutive years of positive same-store sales growth. Same-store sales have slowed more recently, rising 2% in 2024 and 4% last year, but Berle said traffic growth has been “meaningfully higher” as the chain works to attract new customers with its smaller cakes.
“We are trying to get people to get into the cakes so we can get them on their journey, starting maybe with a Bundlet, or a larger cake, and then have them migrate across the various cake sizes,” he said.
It recently established an advertising fund that will help it continue to promote the brand. It has also invested in its technology, including a new website built to handle high-volume periods.
“We’re on offense,” Berle said. “We try to stay humble and enthusiastic. We are very, very growth oriented.”
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