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Cinnabon Wafting Toward Reinvention As Bakery-Cafe

Elissa Elan reports that Cinnabon, the 25-year-old chain known for its cinnamon rolls, intends to transform itself into a full-fledged bakery-café. It's testing egg sandwiches in the morning and espresso-based beverages and panini-type sandwiches for lunch this summer as part of a strategy to increase the brand's customer base and attract new users outside of the mall.



"What's happening specifically in the malls is traffic is going down and we need to increase the amount of customers who stop in front of our stores," Cinnabon president Gary Bales tells Elan. "We need to do that by reinventing the brand over the next three years; that's what we're working on now."



Breakfast sandwiches will be made in-store with Cinnabon dough and feature eggs, cheese and sausage or bacon, or just egg and cheese and going into test in Houston next month. The combo meals will feature blueberry muffins, hash browns and coffee or orange juice as side items. Lunch/snack categories will go into testing toward the end of summer. A third component in Cinnabon's transformation is a beverage program that includes espresso-based drinks.

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