On Northside, nestled in the back of Hearst Food Court, Cinnaholic opened its doors April 3.

Cinnaholic is a vegan dessert shop that specializes in customizable gourmet cinnamon rolls made from scratch, with more than 20 frostings and toppings.

“I’ve been vegan for a really long time and wanted to get something sweet one day,” said Shannon Zamfirescu, owner of Cinnaholic. “I was looking on DoorDash to see if there was anything around me, and that’s how I discovered Cinnaholic. I went there, and the line was out the door.”

Zamfirescu said she became a fan of Cinnaholic immediately after trying it.

In July 2010, Cinnaholic was originally founded in Berkeley by Florian and Shannon Radke.

The founders pitched the company on Shark Tank and got a deal in 2014, but ended up not moving forward with it, according to Zamfirescu.

“One of the big things was that Shannon really believed in fresh products being in the community, and a few of the sharks wanted to go into retail,” Zamfirescu said. “Instead, they were able to get a deal outside of Shark Tank to franchise out.”

The original location on Oxford Street closed in 2023 after the landlord decided to sell the property, according to Zamfirescu. When the original Berkeley location closed, Zamfirescu said she saw an opportunity to reopen a Cinnaholic location with her brother, Kevin Slocum.

“Me and my brother had been looking to invest in some sort of business, and franchising has always been in our background, our family and in our community,” Zamfirescu said.

Growing up in the Bronx in New York inspired her to own a franchise, according to Zamfirescu.

“Franchising was always seen as more attainable capital-wise, compared to starting something from scratch,” she said. “A lot of business owners that we knew in our community had done it that way.”

After doing research on the company, Zamfirescu brought her brother and his family to the Bay Area to begin their franchise journey.

Cinnaholic had a soft opening March 20 and a grand opening April 3, according to Slocum.

Some of Zamfirescu’s favorites from the menu include the seasonal strawberry fields roll and the very berry roll.

Aside from cinnamon rolls, Cinnaholic carries other treats, including assorted cookies and banana bread bites.

“The taste is sweet, warm, gooey — all things I want from comfort food,” Zamfirescu said.