The Sticky, Untold Story of Cinnabon

https://www.seattlemet.com/articles/2017/10/23/scents-from-a-mall-the-sticky-untold-story-of-cinnabon

60 54 9 years ago

Aloha4• 9 years ago

That's a neat little human interest story!

mark-r• 9 years ago

Yes it is. But the lessons for the HN crowd are to pay attention to the ingredients of your success. Even after nailing so many aspects of the business right out of the gate, they had to discover the factors that made for a good location. A/B testing is a wonderful tool that these folks didn't have.

scoggs2• 9 years ago

I also liked the bit about being confident in what you are / what you have / what you offer. Instead of worrying about public opinion and blow back for being unhealthy or partnering with a television show about cooking meth the Cinnabon company embraced everything. It won't work so well for everyone, but I think companies and products that are a bit more on the unsavory side could take a big lesson, here.

It's much more endearing than lying or being fake. It's much more endearing to admit faults or to be honest with your customers and the public about your goals and how you perceive yourself. People might not love everything about you, your product, your services or what you stand for but they will find more reasons to hate you for being a liar than for simply acknowledging what everyone already knows about you.

tlb• 9 years ago

Stories of chain restaurant origins are really interesting, except I find them hard to read because I'm so grossed out by the amount of obesity, diabetes, and heart-disease they've caused. Cinnabon is surely only a little behind Philip Morris in collateral damage caused.

assface• 9 years ago

Cinnabon is surely only a little behind Philip Morris in collateral damage caused.

I disagree. I had a bad bowel obstruction once after minor surgery. I was backed up for over a week. My doctor told me to head straight to the local mall and get a Cinnabon. It flushed me out like it was opening the gates of the Erie Canal.

It was a miracle. The doctor later told me that he is 14 for 16 for getting people to start pooping again through Cinnabon.

Scaevolus• 9 years ago

Cinnamon is a laxative, and has been used in herbal medicine for a long time.

In this case, it's the 15 teaspoons of sugar that helps the medicine go down!

solotronics2• 9 years ago

you smell obstructed bowels? I smell the opportunity for a cinnabon FDA approved as a laxative

girvo• 9 years ago

I have gastroesophogeal reflux disorder, and used to regularly get food randomly “come up” and get stuck in my throat making it hard to breathe.

My doctor quite literally “prescribed” a can of Pepsi: the carbonation and acidity did the trick! Now I keep a bottle of soda water in the fridge for all meals :)

Aloha4• 9 years ago

In the case of cinnabon, I'd profoundly disagree with you:

"The company anticipated mega sales when it opened bakeries in a handful of Seattle-area QFCs in 1996. Instead, remembers Greg, “We’d get a three-month boost, and sales would just die.” In marketing speak, Cinnabon suffers from high levels of “product fatigue.” In real talk, it’s not the type of thing most people can eat on a regular basis and maintain their self-respect—or their pant size. Grocery store regulars eventually learn to resist the siren song of icing, dough, and cinnamon goo."

In any case, you choose to smoke, you choose to eat too much, you choose to do things - while yes, you can get addicted to nicotine (and likely will), and you might get addicted to junk food - you made the choice in the first place - its not as if the risks are unknowns.

While I'm in favor of a gradual delegalization of tobacco, banning food is beyond the pale for me - moderated consumption of even calorie bombs like cinnabon, has not been proven harmful - what alternative do you have?

toomuchtodo3• 9 years ago

Sugar triggers the same parts of your brain as cocaine, while also causing severe health problems when overconsumed.

Please don’t say “you made the choice” when talking about substance abuse, regardless of the substance. While I’d advocate outlawing tobacco, I think products based on sugar should carry a hefty tax to fund healthcare costs and dissuade their consumption.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/brainwaves/is-sugar-rea...

underwater• 9 years ago

The company know that their product is bad for people and that people try to avoid it, yet Cinnabon use manipulative tactics to wear their customers down:

“Let’s face it, people really want to avoid us,” Greg Komen once told an audience. “We have to get in your way.”

What if this were a tech company? Facebook got a lot of heat for supporting an experiment where they influenced people’s emotions.

This seems a lot worse because there are negative mental and physical effects. And they can’t even try and justify it with any sort of “connecting the world” style message. It’s purely about making cash.

jbuzbee• 9 years ago

All things in moderation...

555552• 9 years ago

Yeah but he has a point. I can't keep cookies in my own house unless they are in a cupboard ("out of sight, out of mind") or I'll eat them late at night when I seem to have no self-control left. Meanwhile some Cinnabon locations heat up sheets of just cinnamon and brown sugar under purposely under-powered fume hoods.

dogruck4• 9 years ago

Ah yes. Regulate the guns, not the shooter. The food, not the eater. The soda, not the drinker. The couch, not the potato. The Home Depot truck, not the maniac.

Let’s regulate our way to utopia.

taeric3• 9 years ago

Or, you know, be deliberate in what you do. There is plenty of evidence showing that a "slippery slope" argument is borderline bullshit. Typically used by folks that are just trying to kill the conversation.

Meanwhile, there is the similar perverse truth that bad regulations got us into some of our current situation. In particular, the sugar and gun lobbies were remarkably effective at promoting their topics.

So, by all means, if you are just trying to rhetorically shut down conversation; keep at it. Just please don't be surprised to find nobody wants to talk back at you someday.

mywittyname2• 9 years ago

Obesity is a huge problem and legislators have effective tools for dealing with such problems.

Whether people agree with deploying these tools is one thing, but it's clear that even the fear of regulation is enough to make companies act. Coke has been heavily invested in zero calorie drinks for a while now, and candy companies have been self-imposing size restrictions.

jpatokal2• 9 years ago

Totally random factoid: Cinnabon is huge in Saudi Arabia, which is one of the few places that gives the US a run for its money in having large numbers of wealthy and morbidly obese people who drive everywhere and get virtually no exercise.

I also spotted one in Tokyo earlier this year, nestled in the shadow of the Mori Tower in one of the toniest neighbourhoods in the country. The rolls were scaled down to Japanese size expectations, but the shop was still rattlingly empty every time I passed by around 9 AM in the morning at what you'd expect to be commuter peak hour.

rtpg2• 9 years ago

The Tokyo one gets lines on weekends, but to be honest Cinnabon is just way too much relative to other food here.

Even having spent my childhood chugging Doctor Peppers and stuffing my face with pizzas, I couldn't deal with a normal-ish roll from there after being here. There's a Frijoles close to the Cinnabon, and I came away with the same feeling. Just way too much, and way too heavy.

hellonewworld• 9 years ago

Way too much, and way too heavy? What kinds of foods do Japanese eat for breakfast?

scoggs2• 9 years ago

Does 'toniest' mean wealthy / snobbish? I've never heard it used in this context. Thanks.

umanwizard• 9 years ago

https://www.google.com/search?q=tony+definition

schlock509• 9 years ago

Yeah, I think this is the first time I've ever even heard 'toniest'

mbrameld2• 9 years ago

There was an awesome Apple II game called Tass Times in Tone Town that the quote reminded me of: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tass_Times_in_Tonetown

voltooid• 9 years ago

A quick search confirmed what I suspected, Cinnabon doesn't seem to have done too well in India. India does not seem to like cinnamon flavored stuff too much.

https://www.quora.com/Why-did-Cinnabon-in-India-shut-down-mo...

memsom• 9 years ago

Cinnabon is a guilty pleasure when I'm visiting family in the US and Canada. There was only one remaining store in the UK in the Trocadero Centre in London last time I looked, but it seems they have expanded again and have a bunch of London locations and a couple outside of London. When I was working in London I would go every now and again and buy a tray and take them back to the office. No one ever complained.

The Sticky, Untold Story of Cinnabon

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