A national bakery chain has shuttered all its stores.
Best known for its iconic cupcake vending machines, Sprinkles Cupcakes abruptly closed all company-owned locations after 20 years. The closure was announced by former owner Candace Nelson, who founded the company in 2005 and sold to private equity firm KarpReilly LLC in 2023.
“Even though I sold the company over a decade ago, I still have such a personal connection to it and this isn’t how I thought the story would go,” Nelson said. “I thought Sprinkles would keep growing and be around forever.”
The chain’s website no longer has any products for sale but has a banner that says “We’ll be right back!”
KarpReilly has not provided a reason for the closures, the AP reported, but provided a statement to Nexstar.
“After thoughtful consideration, we’ve made the very difficult decision to transition away from operating company-owned Sprinkles bakeries,” a representative for the company said.
It is unclear if franchise locations will remain open.
According to RetailDive, Sprinkles began selling franchises in 2022 and had roughly 70 locations as of 2023.