Photography by Stephen Buchanan
Rhonda Rogers had never heard of Nothing Bundt Cakes. Then in 2019, she visited a friend, Rachel Paris, in Texas who took her to a local bakery. That’s when she discovered what Bundt cakes really were.
“She always had something special for us to eat when we visited,” Rogers says. This time it was red velvet bundtinis cake.
“It was a combination of the cake and the frosting that did it for me,” Rogers recalls. “I was like ‘Oh my gosh.’ I just fell in love with the cakes.”
It just happened Rogers and her husband Glenn had relocated from Saudi Arabia after living there for eight years and were looking for a business opportunity. They found it with the national franchise, Nothing Bundt Cakes. The Rogers opened their store in the Annapolis Towne Centre in November and it’s been a big hit.
“We have doubled what we thought we would see (in sales),” says Glenn, who is a pilot for United Airlines and works part-time in the store. A Bundt cake is baked in a Bundt pan, which gives it a distinctive doughnut shape.
Nothing Bundt Cakes offers eight- and ten-inch cakes, double-tiered, bite-sized bundtinis, and palm-sized bundlets. Currently, the Rogers store is one of five in Maryland.
The Rogers’ son, John, age 30, manages the store and focuses primarily on supervising the kitchen. Rhonda says her employees—including two full-time bakers and 25-part timers—set the store apart and she considers them to be a key ingredient to its success.
“I call them my symphony,” says Rhonda, who is a Harvard grad and taught college in Saudi Arabia. They just flow, work well together, and really communicate.”
We talked to the couple about their new business.
Photography by Stephen Buchanan
Photography by Stephen Buchanan
Why Annapolis for a store?
We didn’t know where we were going to settle when we came back from overseas. Annapolis was an area where the brand had an opportunity. My husband is familiar with the Naval Academy because his father and uncle graduated from there. My in-laws live in Alexandria and my husband is based out of National and Dulles airports. So, this was the nearest territory that was available. Before we went overseas, we were avid sailors and scuba divers. So, coming to this area and being surrounded by water was fantastic. I fell in love with Annapolis. The stars kind of aligned.
Why did you want to own a Nothing Bundt Cakes?
We wanted to purchase a franchise for our family. It was something where we could be in it together and when we walk away or move away, we would leave something for our kids. It wasn’t our dream of being a franchise owner. It was a family-driven decision—a legacy they could build on and carry on if they wanted to. That was very important to us.
Did your friends from Texas inspire you to go into business?
Yes, they did. Rachel and her husband had been master franchise owners for many years and for example, they owned all the Buffalo Wild Wings from Texas to Hawaii. We turned to them and asked for guidance about the concepts of running a business. They love the brand and concept. If it weren’t for them, I don’t know that we would have purchased a franchise. But they told us, “You should own a business and try a franchise for like five years.”
What is your best-selling item?
The bundlets are becoming more popular. A dozen can come in a standard package, which comes in our top four flavors, or they can buy a customized assortment. Our number one flavor is lemon. My favorite is red velvet. You can get a dozen in lemon. The frosting is true to the term icing on the cake. The lemon bundlets are just delicious. They have such a lemon flavor to them. They are incredibly popular. Customers taste it and they fall in love with it. We hear it all the time.
What’s another customer favorite?
Our decorated cakes. We have different designs for different occasions. They are just so popular. We go year-round with several birthday designs. Those are at the top. When it’s an occasion like Mother’s Day or Easter, the demand is through the roof. Chocolate, Chocolate Chip is very popular. It’s such a rich chocolate flavor. The texture of the cake is moist, light, and fluffy. The combination of that rich delicious chocolate flavor, high-quality chocolate chips, and the signature butter cheese crème frosting makes it special. It smells and tastes so great.
Glenn, how has business been so far?
It has been amazing. We had projections based on meetings with a lot of owners in Maryland and Virginia. Business has really taken off. Every week, the sales come out for the different stores in Maryland and we have been in the number one slot for several weeks.
Do you have plans for more stores?
I would like to open a second store within a year. That’s an idea we have expressed to the company and we are looking for a location. The idea of having more than one is appealing and hopefully, we can do it in a territory adjacent to Annapolis. The company likes you to operate your first for a year to get it running smoothly and stable before you move on to opening the next one.
With the pandemic going on, did that give you second thoughts about opening?
It did because we had initiated this prior to COVID and when it hit we were at the point of no return. So, we were concerned about what it would look like and if we would be allowed to open. The brand through COVID has done really well. They did 20 percent better than the previous year. People still want to celebrate and get treats.
With three family members working there, what is it like? Who is the boss?
Rhonda is the boss. With family, it is both fun and challenging. It gives a great deal of flexibility. The three of us have been able to adjust our times and schedules. Obviously, there are challenges that maybe you wouldn’t have with other, unrelated people. It has worked out really well for the most part.
What do you and Rhonda do in the store?
I do finance, logistics, and I order all the materials. We will fill in the different positions as necessary if it’s really busy. All of us went through training with the company in Dallas. We are qualified and trained to work the different positions. Rhonda deals with day-to-day operations and interacting with the employees.
Nothing Bundt Cakes 1901 Towne Centre Boulevard, Ste. 130, Annapolis 443-775-7979 nothingbundtcakes.com
