Army couple brings vegan cinnamon roll bakery seen on 'Shark Tank' to Fayetteville
Cinnaholic, a vegan cinnamon roll bakery known for its extravagant toppings and Instagram appeal, is opening its first Fayetteville location on Skibo Road.
Slated to open in February, the Fayetteville store is expected to be the chain’s eighth North Carolina bakery. There are locations in Belmont, Cary, Concord, Indian Trail, Raleigh, Wilmington and a forthcoming Greensboro store.
Founded in Berkeley, California, in 2010, Cinnaholic appeared on ABC’s “Shark Tank” in 2013. The chain now has 96 locations across the U.S. and Canada.
Customers can either build their own creation from a variety of toppings or choose from specialty rolls in flavors like cookie monster, campfire s’mores and caramel apple pie. The rolls, which are baked in-house daily, start at $5.25.
Brandon Hanks, 37, and his wife Shawna Hanks, 34, are co-owners of the soon-to-open Fayetteville store at 1928 Skibo Road, Suite 116, formerly Boost Mobile. Located in Skibo Marketplace, the new store will be situated between a nail salon and a smoothie shop.
In addition to cinnamon rolls, he said, the bakery will offer other vegan treats like cookies, brownies and Dole Whip soft serve, a dairy-free ice cream alternative. All Cinnaholic offerings are dairy-free, lactose-free, egg-free and cholesterol-free, he said.
Hanks, who does not follow a vegan diet, said he was blown away by Cinnaholic’s baked goods.
“This is just a great cinnamon roll,” he said. “It’s for anybody.”
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Shawna Hanks, who maintains a dairy-free diet, said that she’s looking forward to bringing vegan desserts to Fayetteville.
She often skips dessert when she and her husband take their four kids out for a treat, she said, because there are few dairy-free options in the area.
“It's been a struggle as long as I’ve been dairy-free,” she said.
While the Hanks are both active-duty soldiers, Shawna Hanks’ older sisters Secret Throop and Erica Lang will run the day-to-day operations of the bakery. Throop and Lang both moved to the Fayetteville area from their home state of Arizona.
“We’ve got a great family support system in Fayetteville,” Brandon Hanks said. “It’s a family business.”
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Hanks said he expected to hire about 10 to 15 employees to operate the 1,200-square-foot store. Business hours will be 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Online ordering for pickup and delivery will be available at cinnaholic.com. Follow @cinnaholic.fayetteville on Instagram for more.
Food, dining and business reporter Taylor Shook can be reached at tshook@gannett.com, on Twitter, or Facebook. Want weekly food news delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the Fayetteville Foodies newsletter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Army couple to open Cinnaholic vegan bakery in Fayetteville, NC
