A Fearless Cinnamon Roll?

 If you are like me you probably thought Cinnabon was sleepy little chain of mall stores that was tethered to the retailing past but recent articles I read have completely changed my impression of Cinnabon.  It doesn't hurt that its CEO is a great story and a good example of corporate bravery.

Part of this change of mind is because of Cinnabon's Kat Cole.  She has a really cool history which you can read more about in this Entrepreneur article.  She has been active on Twitter and engages customers regularly and has a good grasp on who Cinnabon is and its customers and has a business plan to provide even more for its customers.

I recently read this Q and A in Restaurant News entitled "Cinnabon's President Outlines Growth Strategy" that gives a couple of great insights into how they have resisted allowing fear lead their decision making in two important areas - product innovation and media or public relations.

One of the key areas for growth for Cinnabon is licensing arrangements with consumer brands.  They have 72 such arrangements including Kellogg cereals, Pillsbury, and International Delights to name a few.  Creating partnerships with that many companies for that many consumer products comes with a lot of risks and many brands would never dream of possibly diluting their brand positioning in that way but Kat has some thoughts on that indicating they are not afraid to make a few mistakes and have made smart decisions to limit the possible downsides:

Some people ask questions about all the licensing and co-branding, and certainly we’re not perfect; we’ve made our mistakes. But we’ve had more wins than we have losses, and one of the things we’ve learned is that as long as we pick a partner that is typically No. 1 or No. 2 in their space, and they have the demonstrated ability to deliver a quality that exceeds consumers’ expectations of their product and meets consumers’ expectations of our brand, then it’s a smart move.

The other big question that continues to come up with Cinnabon is the current climate around products with so many calories and the growing concerns around what are called 'indulgent brands' and their impact on waistlines in American culture.  I like how she doesn't shy away from the identity of the brand.  She knows exactly what the brand communicates and doesn't dance around the company's identity:

What’s the future of indulgent brands? How do you justify a brand that’s so indulgent? And I say, look, first of all, we have to have a few agreements. One is that people are going to want to treat themselves. I think most people would agree, whether it’s with burgers and fries or cocktails or doughnuts or whatever it is. The next is that they’re going to want to do that with sweet things. And if you can agree on that, then that says that there’s a place in the market for indulgent brands — ice cream, cookies, cinnamon rolls, whatever it is. That has not changed, actually. Despite all the health trends, we have just had three of the best comp sales years we have had in a decade. Lots of people are buying cinnamon rolls, worldwide. However, what’s changed is they demand higher quality for that indulgence. And of course they want more flexibility in portion size.

She continues on to respond to a common thought process for those critical of indulgent brands:

We have tested whole grain, and you know what? A couple of people think it’s a good idea. A couple, but not enough to make an additional whole product innovation worth it.