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'Sprinkles Cupcakes often referred to as “Sprinkles,” “The Original Cupcake Bakery,” or “The World’s First Cupcake Bakery” (according to The Food Network) is an upscale cupcake bakery chain credited with pioneering a worldwide cupcake bakery craze.

Established in 2004, the Los Angeles Times called Sprinkles “the progenitor of the haute cupcake craze.” Sprinkles originated the fundamental elements of what has become the standard for cupcake bakeries worldwide, including a modern, three-tiered cupcake display with die-cut holes to hold each cupcake in place, a rotating flavor menu, and cupcake-specific packaging that deviates from plastic clamshells typical of a supermarket bakery. The Washington Post explained “most cupcake bakeries take their inspiration from Sprinkles.”

Locations

Sprinkles currently has locations in Beverly Hills, California (established April 13, 2005); Newport Beach, California (established August 14, 2006); Dallas, Texas (established March 26, 2007); Scottsdale, Arizona (established May 7, 2008), Palo Alto, California (established September 23, 2008), Houston, Texas (established June 21, 2010), and Chicago, Illinois (established July 26, 2010). Sprinkles will open a location in La Jolla, California in November, 2010. New York, New York and Washington, DC locations are slated to open early 2011.

History

When Candace and Charles Nelson opened Sprinkles’ first store in the heart of Beverly Hills in April 2005, the concept of a cupcakes-only bakery was unheard of and seemed an unlikely success story. Despite naysayers, they sold out within hours of opening and sales haven’t slowed since. Today, Sprinkles is known as much for its long lines and devoted celebrity fans as for its delicious cupcakes. Since Sprinkles opened its first bakery, hundreds of cupcakes-only shops have opened up nationally and internationally.

Sprinkles was originally open Monday-Saturday from 10am-7pm. In 2006, due to customer demand, the store expanded its hours of operation to Monday-Saturday from 9am-7pm and Sundays from 10am-6pm.

Candace Nelson, Founder and Pastry Chef

Candace comes from a long line of culinary luminaries. Her French-American great grandmother was renowned for the distinctive desserts she made at her San Francisco restaurant during the 1930s and her own mother shares a similar passion for cooking. After graduating from the professional pastry program at Tante Marie's Cooking School in San Francisco in 2002, Candace started her own custom baking business, specializing in handcrafted special occasion cakes. However, having been raised in the tradition of her French relatives, Candace felt that dessert should be a daily pleasure rather than an indulgence reserved for the occasional celebration. This philosophy inspired Candace and her husband, Charles, to open Sprinkles Cupcakes. Eschewing traditional cake recipes, Candace carefully developed each recipe specifically for the delicate nature of cupcakes, using the best quality ingredients available.

Candace appears as one of two permanent judges on The Food Network’s Cupcake Wars in which she judges the nation’s top cupcake bakers. Each episode features four bakers who compete in three elimination challenges for the ultimate sweet prize of $10,000 and the opportunity to showcase their cupcakes at a celeb-studded event. Cupcake Wars debuted in December 2009 and completed filming its second season in September, 2010. Candace has quickly distinguished herself as the nation’s foremost cupcake maven and, as such, appeared on The Today Show , The Martha Stewart Show , Throwdown with Bobby Flay , Best Thing I Ever Ate and shared her business experiences as a speaker at USC , UCLA Maria Shriver’s Women’s Conference , and Newsweek’s Women’s Leadership Conference.

Charles Nelson, Founder and President

Charles is President and co-founder of Sprinkles Cupcakes. Growing up in Oklahoma – in a family with a strong tradition of baking – freshly baked desserts were the norm. He would often try to coax his friends to go to restaurants based on the dessert menu rather than the meal itself. Charles was a devoted and tireless taste tester during the first two years of recipe development and continues to excel in that role today. In the first year of the business, Charles’ face was so well known by the Sprinkles customer base in Beverly Hills, he was known as “Mr. Sprinkles”.

Sprinkles Cupcakes are baked fresh in small batches throughout the day from the finest ingredients, including sweet cream butter, bittersweet Callebaut Belgian chocolate, pure Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, fresh bananas and carrots, real strawberries and natural citrus zests. Sprinkles Cupcakes contain no preservatives, trans fats or artificial flavors.

Sprinkles offers 25 regular flavors (from simple vanilla to creative chai latte) and 25 seasonal flavors (from chocolate peppermint for Christmas to choco loco for Cinco de Mayo) . Sprinkles pioneered the concept of a rotating cupcake flavor menu, offering the 9 most popular flavors each day and rotating 5 other flavors on a weekly schedule.

Red velvet outsells all other cupcakes in each Sprinkles store and is now offered daily. However, when the first Sprinkles opened in Beverly Hills, red velvet was only offered 3 days a week! In January, 2010, requests from customers with dietary restrictions prompted Sprinkles to develop both vegan red velvet (made with vegan-friendly ingredients, including all-natural soymilk, tofu-based cream cheese and pure coconut oil) and gluten free red velvet (made with a gluten free flour blend), which are now offered daily in each location.

Sprinkles cupcakes are topped with either sprinkles or Sprinkles trademark modern dot sugar decoration. The Sprinkles trademark modern dot not only identifies a cupcake as a Sprinkles Cupcake, it also serves as a flavor indicator. For example, red velvet cupcakes are always adorned with a red/light green modern dot whereas orange cupcakes are always adorned with an orange/blue modern dot. Sprinkles offers over 200 different sugar decorations which allow customers to personalize cupcakes for different occasions and spell out messages on cupcakes. Customers can send “Say it with Sprinkles” gift boxes with messages like “IT’S A BOY” and “HAPPY ANNIVERSARY” that are spelled out on a dozen cupcakes.

In addition to cupcakes, Sprinkles offers frosting shots which are 1.5 ounces of pure frosting (with an option to be dipped in sprinkles, ganache or coconut flakes). During the summer, Sprinkles offers a cold twist on its classic sugar rush with its frozen frosting shots.

Sprinkles also offers cold sodas and apple juice, organic milk, and hot tea and coffee. Sprinkles Dallas and Sprinkles Houston are the only locations to offer the local Dublin Dr. Pepper. During the winter season, Sprinkles sells a rich, hot drinking chocolate topped with an all-natural marshmallow.

Retail Items

While Sprinkles stores spotlight the cupcake, the store does offer several custom-made retail items. These items include apparel, cupcake towers, cupcake trays, and doggie cupcakes. Out-of-town fans and amateur home bakers can enjoy Sprinkles from the comfort of their own kitchen with Sprinkles Cupcake Mixes (red velvet, vanilla, dark chocolate, lemon, pumpkin, chocolate peppermint, banana, and spice) available in Sprinkles and Williams-Sonoma stores throughout North America .

Sprinkles red velvet cupcake mix was rated as "excellent" by preeminent New York Times food critic Florence Fabricant in her February 2007 article about red velvet cakes.

Store Design

Designed by Austrian architect Andrea Lenardin, Sprinkles evokes the memory of European bakeries flooded with the smell of baked goods and awash in natural light. The pure material palette speaks to the quality of Sprinkles ingredients while signature design elements reflect the playfulness and joy of the Sprinkles experience.

Sprinkles was the first bakery to employ a cupcake display design of die-cut holes to hold each cupcake in place, equidistant from each other. The three-tiered display angles the cupcakes towards the customer on the other side of a ceiling-to-floor glass sneezeguard, fabricated of one sheet of glass.

In 2006, Sprinkles Beverly Hills was the recipient of two AIA Los Angeles restaurant design awards.

Celebrity

Sprinkles has garnered a reputation as “The Hollywood Celebrity Bakery” having been associated with a celebrity following since its beginnings. From Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise to Oprah Winfrey to Barbra Streisand , Hollywood stars are abuzz about Sprinkles. Sprinkles Cupcakes have been featured on several television shows including Entourage , The Girls Next Door , and The Soup .

Barbra Streisand was one of Sprinkles’ first customers and introduced Oprah Winfrey to the brand by sending her a box of cupcakes. Only 8 months after opening Sprinkles, Charles and Candace received a call from Harpo Studios that Oprah needed 350 cupcakes for her studio audience in Chicago the next morning. Charles and Candace hopped on a red eye with cupcakes in tow, carrying on all 350 cupcakes. Luckily, their plane was half empty and they had very understanding flight attendants. The next morning, the Nelsons were at Harpo Studios plating cupcakes for Oprah’s audience!

Sprinkles Cupcakes even played a role in Tom Cruise’s courtship of Katie Holmes. Tom sent cupcakes to Katie, including her favorite – dark chocolate, prior to their marriage . The Cruises sent out boxes of holiday themed Sprinkles Cupcakes to over 200 of their closest friends in December 2007. Sprinkles Cupcakes are also a staple at Tom and Suri’s birthday celebrations.

Other celebrity clients include: David and Victoria Beckham , Leonardo Dicaprio , Heidi Klum , Paris Hilton , Ryan Seacrest , Jessica Alba , Tyra Banks , Russell Crowe , Jake Gyllenhaal , Blake Lively , Maggie Gyllenhaal , Paula Abdul , Kristin Chenoweth , Denise Richards , Abigail Breslin , Amy Adams , Kelly Osbourne , Carmen Electra , Rihanna , Kevin Bacon , the Pussycat Dolls , Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz , Sarah Michelle Gellar , Sarah Chalke , Adam Lambert , Kris Allen , Bow Wow , LeAnn Rimes , Jennifer Lopez , Ellen Pompeo , Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green .

Sprinkles has provided cupcakes for Hollywood’s most star-studded events, setting up towering tiers of cupcakes backstage at the Grammys, the ESPYs, the MTV Movie Awards, the X Games and the Teen Choice Awards. Besides providing cupcakes for celebrity events, Sprinkles has celebrated monumental moments with in-store visits by celebrities and donations to their charities of choice. On April 13, 2010, to celebrate Sprinkles Beverly Hills’ 5-year anniversary, Bridget Marquardt helped Sprinkles give out 5,000 free cupcakes to customers. On June 21, 2010, Houston Rockets forward Shane Battier and his wife, Heidi, appeared at the Sprinkles Houston Grand Opening, earning a $25,000 donation from Sprinkles to their Take Charge Foundation. On July 26, 2010, Giuliana and Bill Rancic celebrated the Sprinkles Chicago Grand Opening, earning a $25,000 donation from Sprinkles which they split between Hope Children’s Hospital and its Ronald McDonald House.

“My mouth is already salivating.” -Katie Holmes “Oh my goodness, goodness, goodness. They’re so delicious.” -Oprah Winfrey “I eat cupcakes from Sprinkles by the dozen.” -Blake Lively

“I love Sprinkles Cupcakes in Beverly Hills.”

-Paris Hilton

Sprinklesmobile

In January 2009, Sprinkles debuted its Sprinklesmobile. At the forefront of the food truck craze , Sprinkles was the first cupcake bakery to have a mobile presence. The custom chocolate brown Mercedes Sprinter vehicle was designed by Sprinkles architect Andrea Lenardin and built by Pimp My Ride’s West Coast Customs. Tailor-made to spotlight the cupcake, the Sprinklesmobile’s inside wall folds out beyond the space of the vehicle, hovering at an angle above ground – the cupcakes protected by a lucite sneezeguard. To ensure Sprinkles addicts receive their sugar rush, rain or shine, a retractable awning extends up to 8 feet from the vehicle. Custom-designed, stainless steel cupcake trays allow the Sprinklesmobile to hold up to 1500 cupcakes. The Sprinklesmobile headed out on its maiden voyage to the set of Entourage in Hollywood and served up 12 dozen cupcakes to the cast and crew.

The Sprinklesmobile vends from the street throughout Los Angeles. Angelenos follow the Sprinklesmobile’s whereabouts on Twitter @sprinklesmobile. In addition to street vending, the Sprinklesmobile is available for private event rental and has attended Los Angeles weddings, bar mitzvahs and corporate events. The Sprinklesmobile has also traveled beyond its Southern California home to events and new store openings in Northern California , Houston and Chicago .

Community

Sprinkles community philosophy is reflected in its purchasing decisions and commitment to local charities. Sprinkles bakery boxes, plates, napkins, shopping bags and giftboxes are made from recycled materials and printed with soy ink. Sprinkles donates regularly to charities and events supporting worthy causes and gives all daily leftover cupcakes to local food banks. Since opening in 2005, Sprinkles has donated over $1.5 million in cash and cupcakes to charities in its local communities and around the world.

Women’s Cancer Research

Each year, from October 1-7, Sprinkles donates 100 percent of the proceeds from its Pink Ribbon cupcakes to the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s Women’s Cancer Research Fund. Sprinkles Pink Ribbon cupcakes have raised $142,500 for the Women’s Cancer Research Fund.

Earth Day

Each year, to celebrate Earth Day, Sprinkles donates 100 percent of the proceeds from its Earth Day Vanilla cupcakes to local tree planting and environmental care organizations (TreePeople, Texas Trees Foundation, Surfrider Foundation, Committee for Green Foothills and Desert Botanical Garden). Since 2008, Sprinkles has raised $31,550 for these organizations.

Children’s Hospitals

Sprinkles has donated over $68,000 to children’s hospitals in the communities in which it operates. Sprinkles supports Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health in Palo Alto, having raised $9,750 for the hospital since 2009. In addition, Sprinkles donated $25,000 to celebrate its opening in Chicago to Hope Children’s Hospital and its Ronald McDonald House.

Each year, to celebrate the Red River Rivalry between OU and UT, Sprinkles donates 100 percent of the proceeds from its Longhorn Vanilla and Big Red Velvet cupcakes to Children’s Medical Center Dallas and Children’s Medical Research Institute at the OU Health Sciences Center, respectively. Since 2007, Sprinkles Longhorn Vanilla cupcakes have raised $17,850 and Sprinkles Big Red Velvet cupcakes have raised $15,900.

Red Cross

The January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti resulted in an urgent need for aid. On January 16, 2010, Sprinkles raised $20,000 for the American Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund by donating the proceeds of its Red Cross Red Velvet cupcakes.

Social Media

At the forefront of business promotion through social media, Sprinkles has employed Facebook and Twitter (@sprinkles) to grow their dedicated fanbase and keep them up to date on seasonal flavors, holiday specials and the growth of the Sprinkles brand overall . Cited by Facebook as a leader and great example of small business use, Sprinkles’ employment of social media has become a model for other businesses and a business school case study. In April, 2009, Sprinkles began announcing daily in-store cupcake giveaways via Facebook and Twitter only. Subscribers to their Facebook and Twitter feeds receive messages like “Need a lift? The first 25 people to whisper ‘sugar rush’ at each Sprinkles location today receive a free red velvet cupcake!” and “Red Rover, Red Rover, send red velvet right over! The first 50 people to whisper ‘Red Rover’ at each Sprinkles receive a free red velvet!” Sprinkles also experiments new cake and frosting combinations, creating off-the-menu flavors available for Facebook and Twitter followers (i.e. a Neopolitan cupcake made of vanilla cake, strawberry frosting and chocolate ganache and The King made of banana cake and peanut butter frosting).

Sprinkles uses Twitter to announce vending locations of its Sprinklesmobile (@sprinklesmobile). Founder, Candace Nelson tweets on her account @sprinklescandac.

In July, 2009, Sprinkles announced the Sprinkles BFF Contest hoping to grow its Facebook fan base to over 100,000 members. In January, 2010, when the page reached 100,000 members, one lucky fan of the first 100,000 received an all-expenses paid trip for two to visit the original Sprinkles bakery in Beverly Hills.

This outreach has been instrumental in solidifying Sprinkles as a leader in the evolution of modern media by making the brand, team and product accessible to customers and the curious nationwide.

Traditional Media

Sprinkles has never purchased advertisements with the exception of ads at charitable events. However, the Sprinkles brand has been featured in other brands’ national advertisements campaigns.

In 2009 and 2010, American Express ran national print ads featuring quotes from Candace and Charles Nelson about how they use their American Express card to grow Sprinkles. Candace was also featured in a national television for American Express.

In 2010, Kia ran a print ad which featured a sock puppet, robot and other characters loading Sprinkles Cupcakes from the store into the car brand’s Sorento vehicle. The ad was featured in Elle Décor, Glamour, Self, Southern Living, and Bon Appetit.

References

External links

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 {{Userspace draft|source=ArticleWizard|date=October 2010}}
-'''Sprinkles Cupcakes'', often referred to as “Sprinkles,” “The Original Cupcake Bakery,” or “The World’s First Cupcake Bakery” (according to The Food Network)  is an upscale cupcake bakery chain credited with pioneering a worldwide cupcake bakery craze.
+'''Sprinkles Cupcakes'' often referred to as “Sprinkles,” “The Original Cupcake Bakery,” or “The World’s First Cupcake Bakery” (according to The Food Network)  is an upscale cupcake bakery chain credited with pioneering a worldwide cupcake bakery craze.
 Established in 2004, the Los Angeles Times called Sprinkles “the progenitor of the haute cupcake craze.”   Sprinkles originated the fundamental elements of what has become the standard for cupcake bakeries worldwide, including a modern, three-tiered cupcake display with die-cut holes to hold each cupcake in place, a rotating flavor menu, and cupcake-specific packaging that deviates from plastic clamshells typical of a supermarket bakery.  The Washington Post explained “most cupcake bakeries take their inspiration from Sprinkles.”