Business Spotlight: Cake, Meet Franchise

Sometimes, cake finds you.

For Jordan and Adrienne Harvey, it was bundt cakes. And in the form of a franchise.

But franchising was nothing new to the couple. Their experiences started with Auntie Anne’s pretzels in the mid-2000s. Adrienne Harvey’s family operated a franchise in the Dallas market, and after the two married and joined them in the business, they got the franchise bug and set out to launch something of their own.

They had ordered Nothing Bundt Cakes for their young daughter’s birthday, and the cake left an impression years later.

“Even that long ago, we knew that we loved the product. I think that’s important in any business,” Jordan says.

Here’s the snag: No franchise rights were available in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. That sent the Harveys on a hunt for Nothing Bundt Cake rights in markets around the country. They researched far and wide, including some beach towns. But proximity to family in Dallas was top of mind.

Then Springfield popped up on their radar. Somehow, it felt right, says Jordan, who had only once stepped foot in Missouri as a teenager for a baseball tournament.

During discussions in their home and with corporate officials, the Harveys visited Springfield a half-dozen times and decided they were in.

“We literally moved away to open this brand,” Jordan says. “It just felt like this is where we should be.”

That was in 2020. Yes, that’s the year the Harveys uprooted their young family and planted in Springfield. All for the cake business.

Their franchise opened in October 2020, in the Brentwood Center. The store was No. 404 in the Nothing Bundt Cakes system; now, Jordan says there are 579 stores, including entry in Canada.

Looking ahead, the franchise is on an aggressive growth curve with planned stores in the 900s. One of those belongs to the Harveys. They’ve signed on to open a store in Joplin and are researching lease properties with hopes of being operational by year’s end.

The company charges a $35,000 franchise fee, and the initial investment to open ranges from the $480,000s to nearly $700,000, according to the franchise page on NothingBundtCakes.com. It also collects 6% royalties and 5% for marketing weekly.

The franchise assists in real estate selection, Jordan says, noting when he opened in Springfield, corporate identified 30 available properties, which he narrowed to three before choosing his spot near the Battlefield Road and Glenstone Avenue intersection.

"I can’t imagine being anywhere else for what we do,” Jordan says, pointing to storefront parking, high traffic flow and the adjacent tenant draw.

The 2,150-square-foot space has a small but highly decorated and colorful retail showroom, with baking, frosting, crafting and dishwashing areas in the back. He says production of the bundt cakes – which are baked in a fluted tube pan that is circular with a hole in the middle – is done in house with 25 mostly part-time staffers.

The best sellers are white chocolate raspberry, chocolate-chocolate chip and red velvet – and he says the $5.50 individual-size “bundlets” are moving the most.

“Most bakeries when they’re opening, that’s the bread and butter,” Jordan says.

The franchise’s recipe guidelines also introduce seasonal flavors, like pumpkin spice, that are sold up to six weeks, and pop-up flavors, like Oreo and Reese’s, that last two weeks on the menu. Two sizes of larger cakes serve eight to 20 people, he says, and those are often purchased for special occasions, like birthdays and anniversaries.

The home office staff of Springfield-based Andy’s Frozen Custard is familiar with the larger, 10-inch cakes. As part of Nothing Bundt Cake’s promotions program, each of Andy’s 40 corporate employees choose a cake during their birthday month for Jordan and his team to deliver to their downtown office.

“We usually run a minimum of three employees a month,” says Christy Every, Andy’s executive administrative assistant, of the cake orders. “Some choose to share with other employees in the office, and some choose to take home and share with their families. It goes both ways.”

The partnership from one sweets company to another has been ongoing for 18 months, Every says. That’s around 60 cakes, now, each priced at $39-$49 – but the delivery fee is waived in the corporate program.

Every selected the white chocolate raspberry for her past birthday.

“That’s my favorite. I shared with the staff,” she notes, with a laugh. “We’ve also ordered cakes from him for other events in the office, our Christmas party and things like that. We like to support other businesses in town when the opportunity is there.”