This article was originally published in Franchise Times, sister publication to Food On Demand.
Urvi Patel remembers telling her mother when she was 8 that she wanted to have her birthday party at T.J. Cinnamons, a popular mall brand in the 1980s known for its cinnamon rolls.
So, her role as senior vice president of brands and brand president for Cinnabon at GoTo Foods might have been a pre-determined destiny.
“I was born with this sweet tooth,” she said. “It was very much meant to be.”
Patel’s Cinnabon brand underwent a growth surge in 2025 with the opening of 348 franchise locations, up from 53 in 2023 and 91 in 2024. Factoring in closures, its net unit count grew by 308 in 2025 as the brand ended the year with 1,338 stores in the United States, up 30 percent from the prior year.
The pipeline remains primed as well, with 359 franchise agreements signed but not open and 95 projected openings in its current fiscal year, according to its franchise disclosure document.
“We haven’t seen a slowdown in any of our franchise engagement or our development opportunities,” she said.
Whether it’s the oversized cinnamon roll it’s known for or bite-sized snacks, Cinnabon has treats to satisfy consumer cravings, said Urvi Patel, senior vice president of brands at GoTo Foods and brand president for Cinnabon.
Diversification paying off
Cinnabon, long a staple in malls and airports, has been diversifying over the last decade, moving into convenience stores, travel centers and dual-branded standalone streetside locations, with other GoTo Foods partners such as Carvel, Auntie Anne’s and Jamba.
The biggest jumps in 2025 came out west. In Utah, franchisees opened 120 locations. Idaho franchisees opened 61 locations. In Nevada, 2025 produced 27 new Cinnabons. And in Washington, the count increased by 17.
According to the company’s FDD, most of this expansion was driven by Maverik, a fast-growing chain of convenience stores and gas stations. At many locations, Maverik builds full Cinnabon bakeries into the stores. At others, they bake a limited selection of products through an “express bakery.”
Maverik did not respond to a request for comment, but Cinnabon’s largest travel center partner is Pilot Travel Centers, with more than 170 locations. Pilot offers a combination of familiar national brands and proprietary concepts for its guests and they often get excited to see Cinnabon, said Gemma Patterson, senior director of restaurant relations and ecommerce.
The stores typically offer a modified version of the traditional Cinnabon mall bakery that sells the best of the company’s menu. The classic oversized cinnamon roll is the best seller, Patterson said, but six-packs on the road or cinnamon rolls covered in Hershey’s candies or Oreo toppings also are popular.
“Everyone gets satisfied with this,” she said.
The relationship has evolved in recent years where customers can now order Cinnabon from Pilot via DoorDash, Grubhub or Uber Eats. The company often pairs Cinnabon and Pilot’s own coffee partners in limited time offers.
“It’s a great opportunity to [partner] two great brands,” she said. “They’re great pairings with Cinnabon, one of our top sellers from a combination perspective. We’re happy with our partnership.”
Menu changes continue
Cinnabon has evolved more than its places of doing business. The company survived through fad diets and consumer expressions for healthier options. At its core, the company won’t change, but it is monitoring the increase in GLP-1 medication users and other science trends around reducing appetites and combating obesity.
Related: Why Restaurant Franchises Are Using Smaller Meals, Protein to Cater to GLP-1 Users
But Cinnabon isn’t sugarcoating what it has to offer.
“We know about our customer and how we define our brand, we are unapologetically what we are,” Patel said. “I think that if we were to try and do something different, we would fail at that in delighting our guests and what they are looking for.”
That said, Cinnabon also works to provide options that will still allow people to feed the craving they might have while perhaps being able to feel less guilty about it. For several years, it has offered BonBites, bite-sized cinnamon rolls, and CinnaSweeties, mini doughnut holes with a side of cream cheese frosting.
“Everybody still wants a treat,” she said. “Irrespective of a GLP-1 trend or a healthy trend or any other relevant diet trend, this brand has survived for 40 years throughout them all. That basic human need of ‘I want a treat,’ for those who enjoy sweet treats, Cinnabon can deliver.”
In keeping with the uptick of importance in the beverage category, Cinnabon this year partnered with Seattle’s Best Coffee. That followed the introduction of Swirled Sodas, pairing flavors such as cinnamon roll and raspberry or creamy vanilla swirl with a dash of Makara cinnamon.
Patel promised continued innovation in this category and said Cinnabon and GoTo Foods are committed to a “complete brand experience” for customers.
“We’re continuing to develop new beverage concepts to really engage our guests where they are,” Patel said. “Beverage is one of those areas right now.”
Mall stores still perform
While its current growth significantly skews toward travel centers, GoTo Foods and Cinnabon have not abandoned malls. Post-Covid concerns that malls were dead, Patel said, have dissipated and traffic has continued growing in recent years.
“We are not done in any specific venue,” Patel said. “All those opportunities present themselves. We are very strategic about and laser focused about is making sure we are growing in the right locations, the right malls, the right venue types.”
Longtime mall snack franchisee Fresh Dining Concepts said there wasn’t anything magical about the increase in its Cinnabon unit count, which went from 25 locations to 47 in 2025. The company simply remains bullish on Cinnabon and its other mall snack brands, which include Auntie Anne’s, Carvel and Jamba.
Kevin Bush, chief strategy officer and executive chairman at Fresh Dining Concepts, said malls still perform well.
“Those are the four snack concepts we’ve had since the very outset of this business, and as we’ve grown, we continued to do deals in the GoTo Foods system,” Bush said. “Some opportunities have shown themselves and we found them to be attractive. We really love our mall snack business.”
