News

Beautiful Brands adds to growing portfolio

January 4, 2011

Beautiful Brands International has announced the addition of Kansas City-based cupcakery, Smallcakes, to its portfolio of restaurants to market and franchise worldwide.

The agreement calls for the development and openings of co-branded Smallcakes and FreshBerry stores and BBI also is considering co-branding Smallcakes with its flagship brand, Camille's Sidewalk Cafe.

“Smallcakes is the perfect addition to the Beautiful Brands family of brands,” says David Rutkauskas, BBI founder, president and CEO. “Camille and I first noticed Smallcakes when we saw the company featured on Food Network's Cupcake Wars, and after we tried them, we fell in love with the brand from the very first bite.”

The agreement between Jeff and Brandy Martin, owners of Smallcakes, and Beautiful Brands International will utilize BBI’s organizational and support system to market and franchise the brand on a national and global scale. BBI’s support will include product development, marketing, real estate, architecture, legal, franchise sales and other aspects of franchise development. Smallcakes will be positioned as a fast casual concept, with relatively low startup costs and an average ticket of $16.

Founded in Kansas City in 2008, Smallcakes has grown to two locations in Kansas with a third store currently in development in Missouri. The cupcakery bakes 15 types of cupcakes each day, each freshly topped with swirls of velvety icing in traditional and modern flavors. The cupcakes have recently been featured on TV shows such as The View and Cupcake Wars.

“You can’t really help but smile when you eat a cupcake,” said Jeff Martin, owner of Smallcakes. “That’s really the idea behind Smallcakes — we wanted to provide a product to families and individuals where they can experience joy and happiness all by eating a cupcake. We’re thrilled we can join with Beautiful Brands to take our successful business model and expand it worldwide.”

Smallcakes is one of 12 concepts marketed and developed by Beautiful Brands International. Franchised brands include Camille’s Sidewalk Café, FreshBerry Frozen Yogurt Café, Greenz Salads, Dixie Cream Donut Co., Rex’s Chicken, Caz's Chowhouse, Blazing Onion Burger Company, In the Raw Sushi, Top That! Pizza, and Le Beau Rouleau Crepes and Croissants.