Cinnamon Works Cooks Up Expansion to Sweeten Profits

It’s a sticky business, but someone’s got to do it.

In this case, it’s the Cinnamon Works, a local cinnamon roll and cookie concern that is about to expand.

Co-owner Colleen Perry said the 3-year-old company is negotiating leases for new stores in Anaheim Hills and Irvine. She said the firm recently closed a marginal store in Orange in order to concentrate its efforts on the new areas.

“We want to get these stores up and running and see what they will do,” Perry said.

The company has situated its stores in strip centers instead of shopping malls, where other cinnamon roll purveyors, such as the Cinnabon Bakery stores in the Mall of Orange and Westminster Mall, have already staked their turf. Cinnamon Works has an established store in Yorba Linda and supplies its sugary confections to Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm, she said. Perry added that she recently cut back on her advertising, but sales have increased, apparently on the strength of word of mouth.

“The business has continually grown since we started up,” she said.