Candace Nelson: Innovator of Cupcakes

    Have you ever had the craving for a cupcake in the middle of the night? Or really anytime during the day? Well, Candace Nelson has, and that craving is one of the reasons why there are currently 50 cupcake ATMs across the United States. Nelson is the co-founder of Sprinkles Cupcakes which came to be in April of 2005 with the opening of the first Sprinkles bakery in Beverly Hills, California. Within a matter of hours, the bakery sold out of all their cupcakes on opening day and the business is still going strong. Yet, while Nelson’s cupcake career started with founding one of the world’s first cupcake bakeries, she has since channeled her creativity into multiple avenues. These creative innovations include setting up the first cupcake truck, the “Sprinklesmobile,” establishing the first cupcake ATM, and writing her book Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe to Turn your Passion into Profit.

Photo of Candace Nelson from Inc. Magazine

    While Nelson’s career with sprinkles is flourishing, she was not always a baker. She started off as an investment banker in San Francisco, but after losing her job she turned to her passion for baking as a new pursuit. Nelson attended Tante Marie’s Cooking School in San Francisco and graduated in 2002 from their professional pastry program. Three years later, Sprinkles Cupcakes was born.

 

 

    As Sprinkles was the first cupcake-only bakery to make it big, Nelson knew that she would need to find a way for her cupcakes to stand out as potential imitators emerged. This is what lead to the creation of the distinct branding that makes a Sprinkles cupcake recognizable. There are three consistent elements that distinguish Sprinkles cupcakes from the rest: (1) the chocolate-brown cupcake wrapper; (2) the “Sprinkles swirl”; and (3) the “modern dot.” First, the chocolate-brown cupcake wrapper, this one is self-explanatory, each Sprinkles cupcake is wrapped in a chocolate-brown cupcake wrapper. This in itself may not have given Sprinkles cupcakes their signature look, but when combined with the other two key elements, it helps to really make the icon that is a Sprinkles cupcake. Next is the “Sprinkles swirl.” This is the swirl of frosting that is created by hand on each Sprinkles cupcake. Instead of the traditional method of frosting a cupcake, using frosting in a piping bag, Nelson decided to use an offset spatula to frost her cupcakes and achieve the signature “Sprinkles swirl.” I believe that this swirl adds a nice touch to the cupcakes, giving them a more personal feel, while still maintaining a cohesive look. The last element of most Sprinkles cupcakes is the “modern dot.” The modern dot is the singular sprinkle that is present on most non-specialty Sprinkles cupcakes and is a feature of the cupcakes that has trademark protection. Thus, as Sprinkles grew to be what it is today, imitators cannot get too close to the signature look of a Sprinkles cupcake, making them so recognizable today. The signature look of a Sprinkles cupcake can be seen all over their Instagram page, which I have linked below.

 

https://www.instagram.com/sprinklescupcakes/?hl=en

 

    Besides creating the first cupcake-only bakery, Nelson created the first cupcake ATMs and cupcake truck, nicknamed the “Sprinklesmobile.” The first of these creations, the cupcake ATM, was launched in 2012, but the idea came to be about two years prior. In an interview with Laurel Mintz from Inc. Magazine in 2018, Nelson describes that the idea for the cupcake ATM came to be when she was pregnant with her second son and had the craving for a cupcake. It was during a time at night when the Sprinkles bakery was long past being closed for the day, so Nelson and her husband, Charles Nelson, the other co-founder of Sprinkles, started brainstorming ideas for how to make cupcakes available at any time. Thus, two years after the hunt began for a way to make this thought come to life, the first cupcake ATM launched in March of 2012 at the Beverly Hills Sprinkles location. Since then, 50 cupcake ATMs have been introduced to cities nationwide and serve as a way to get a Sprinkles cupcake at any time. The video linked below features Nelson herself showing off the very first Sprinkles cupcake ATM.

 

    These cupcake ATMs and the Sprinkles stores are not the only ways to procure a Sprinkles cupcake though. The Sprinklesmobile is yet another invention of the co-founders of Sprinkles that has made Sprinkles into the brand it is today. The Sprinklesmobile is a custom-made Mercedes-Benz Sprinter that can house 1,500 cupcakes on the go. First on the move in 2014, the Sprinklesmobile has made its way to many cities across the country, including a visit to Chicago that is highlighted in the video linked below.

 

    The ways in which Nelson’s original idea for Sprinkles has sparked so much innovation into different avenues reminds me much of the way that Rick Rubin describes the development of creative ideas in his book The Creative Act: A Way of Being. In the chapter “Experimentation,” Rubin describes starting off with “seeds” of a creative idea and experimenting with different paths to see where these “seeds” take root and flourish. This is reminiscent of how Nelson came to create some of her innovations, such as the cupcake ATM. The “seed” for this creative product came with her craving a cupcake in the middle of the night when none of the stores were open. It then took root and flourished with the idea to create a 24/7 cupcake ATM. Rubin mentions that an artist’s work starts with a question that guides them to discover solutions to that question. This is exactly what Nelson did with her invention of the cupcake ATM; she started with a question and that question guided her to the creation of the cupcake ATM.

    While Nelson’s cupcake empire started nearly 20 years ago, she is still going strong as a businesswoman and pastry chef. She has appeared on several television shows, such as on the Food Network’s Cupcake Wars and Netflix’s Sugar Rush, both of which she served as a judge on. Nelson also expanded her Sprinkles locations to start serving cookies and ice cream in addition to the signature cupcakes. In 2017, she also helped to create Pizzana, a franchise of pizza restaurants, thus adding pizza to the list of her delicious creations. In 2022, she released her book, Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe to Turn your Passion into Profit, which details how she got her brand to where it is today. The cover art of her book even depicts the signature Sprinkles red velvet cupcake with its chocolate-brown wrapper, the signature swirl, and the modern dot: the cupcake where it all started.

 

Sources: 

https://www.fastcompany.com/3033984/one-sweet-ride

https://www.netsuite.com/portal/resource/articles/small-business/sprinkles-cupcakes-candace-nelson.shtml

https://candace-nelson.com/about-candace/

https://sprinkles.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIx5LCmPzkhAMVwl5HAR2w5QIcEAAYASAAEgLlLvD_BwE

https://www.inc.com/laurel-mintz/from-investment-banking-to-worlds-first-cupcake-bakery-interview-with-candace-nelson-founder-of-sprinkles.html