Goodbye, Sprinkles: Cupcake empire shutters all its locations
After a 20-year run, Sprinkles Cupcakes, a cupcake and bakery chain known for cupcake-dispensing ATMs and its role in the haute cupcake craze, will close all its locations Dec. 31, according to an announcement on Instagram by founder Candace Nelson.
That would leave Bay Area locations in Palo Alto and San Ramon shuttered, and an opening date unlikely for a Burlingame location announced to be in the works just two weeks ago. Across the U.S., the brand had 21 total stores and 25 Cupcake ATM locations as of Dec. 31, according to its website.
Meanwhile, the responses on social media included statements from people saying they are former workers who received one-day layoff notices.
After starting the company in 2005, Nelson said she sold the brand to private equity in 2012 and has no ownership or operational involvement in the company. Private equity firm KarpReilly acquired the Beverly Hills-based Sprinkles Cupcakes in early 2013.
In this photo taken Monday, March 5, 2012, a new 24-Hour cupcake ‘ATM,’ an automatic machined dispenses fresh cupcakes at Sprinkles Cupcakes in Beverly Hills, Calif. The ATM-like machine features a touchscreen and a robotic arm that pulls the right flavored cupcake from a wall of single-serving boxes inside the store. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
The brand was part of the gourmet cupcake trend of the late 2000s and early 2010s. Sprinkles was considered to be the “world’s first cupcake bakery” and had the “world’s first cupcake truck,” according to KarpReilly.
Manager Andrew Sutherland fills an order for a dozen cupcakes at Sprinkles Cupcakes in the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto on Dec. 23, 2009. (Kat Wade/Daily News)
“I’m deeply grateful to the fans, customers, and community who showed up, celebrated with us, and made Sprinkles part of their traditions – and to the team who made it all happen,” Nelson wrote in the announcement.
“I thought Sprinkles would keep growing and be around forever. I thought it was going to be my legacy,” she says.
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