Expo West: Cupcake Chain Sprinkles Makes A Break For CPG

Cupcake bakery chain Sprinkles (Booth #4902) is following the playbook of its predecessor, Magnolia Bakery, and bringing its baked good concepts to the world of packaged food.

To that end, Sprinkles today announced the debut of a new business arm – Sprinkles CPG – with the launch of its first product, a line of chocolate bars and mini chocolates inspired by its cupcake flavors. The chocolates are Rainforest Alliance Certified, and the bars available in four flavors: Red Velvet, Salted Caramel, Sprinkle White Chocolate and Milk Chocolate. The small format, “snackable” iteration comes in Red Velvet and Salted Caramel and is embossed with the brand’s logo.

“Sprinkles cupcakes has built this amazing brand over the last 20 years with bakeries across the country,” said Ashley Rogers, president and CEO of Sprinkles CPG. “We thought it was a next natural step to create a product that could also be distributed in retailers nationwide underneath the Sprinkles name. The chocolate piece of it was just a natural, indulgent step for us.”

Sprinkles founder Candace Nelson opened the doors to the first cupcake-focused bakery in 2005, and it quickly became a hit. She went on to judge baking shows such as “Cupcake Wars” and host the Netflix show “Sugar Rush.” In 2017, she began a new venture into the savory space with the launch of Los Angeles-based pizza chain Pizzana.

While this isn’t Sprinkles’ first foray into CPG – it launched a line of cupcake mixes with William Sonoma in its early years – this is the first in-house effort. The products will first be sold in its over 24 bakeries nationwide, and in April, it will launch with one of the “largest national retailers,” said Rogers, who declined to disclose the partner at this time.

The products will then roll out to many new retailers throughout the year, Rogers explained, highlighting that the team is targeting all channels – mass, conventional, natural, drug and club. Those partnerships will also come on a national scale, CMO Michelle Wong emphasized. In addition, Sprinkles HQ is working out the logistics to get the product placement in its nearly 50 “cupcake ATMs” around the country.

The new business arm has been constructed as a separate subsidiary under the Sprinkles umbrella, but remains a division of the business, Rogers and Wong said.

Rogers, who you may recognize from her role as founder and CEO of upcycled sweet potato snack brand Spudsy, became involved in the project last year via mutual investor KarpReilly. She continues to serve as both founder and CEO of Spudsy as well as President and CEO of Sprinkles CPG.

“It’s definitely been crazy – I’m still fully involved in Spudsy as well,” said Rogers. “My days are half Spudsy, half Sprinkles, and then my nights are half Spudsy, half Sprinkles. It’s been crazy, but it’s been good – I thrive in chaos.”

To continue cultivating chaos, Rogers said the brand has plenty of new innovations and distribution partnerships in the works as it looks to build the new venture into a business that lives across multiple aisles of the grocery store. “[Think] the ice cream category, the cookie category, the baking set – really any bakery, chocolatey, decadent item we feel like we could be,” Rogers stated.

Wong said that the brand has proven itself as an innovator and category disruptor after nearly two decades in the bakery business. Now as it looks to differentiate itself in CPG, it is able to do something “no one else can” and bring its “iconic cupcake flavors” to the premium chocolate category. But that flexible brand identity would not be possible without the path forged by its parent company, Wong said.

“What has helped us is that we’ve really built a lifestyle brand [with Sprinkles] and our consumer sees us that way,” said Wong, highlighting the brand’s baking mix launch with William Sonoma and numerous collaborations in the cosmetics space. “Our guest really sees Sprinkles in that way because this brand is really centered around moments of joy and celebration.”