Today we’d like to introduce you to Arash Raoufi.
Hi Arash, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Arash Raoufi, and I started my franchise agreement in 2019 with Cinnaholic, but due to covid, we weren’t able to officially start our grand opening until June of 2021. At the time, my store was #58 now, we have over 70 stores nationwide and 6 in Canada and still growing! We were featured on NBC’s hit show SharkTank, and everything at all of our bakeries is 100% plant-based VEGAN. We use no dairy, no eggs, or any animal products. In addition to our bakery items, we even have dole soft serve (same as Hawaii and Disney) which is a soft serve like ice cream. My store is located in Frisco at the Shops at Starwood, and we hope to open our prosper location in the years to come. I still also have my day job, so this is what I do on the side as an Entrepreneur. I love being able to give back to my community and provide jobs etc. and mentor students in addition since all of our items are plant-based items it really enjoys me to see kids who have a dairy or egg allergy and are limited to the items they can get sometimes when they go out to restaurants. Here they can enjoy it all!!!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Finding good workers most in this area are students, and are their schedule is limited to when they can work (biggest need is daytime workers right now that are reliable are hard to find)
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
In addition to owning my own franchise and operating it, I do it all from ordering my ingredients and doing inventory to scheduling my employees and doing their payroll taxes, etc. I love the fact that I’m an employee, owner, CEO, CFO, Marketing janitor, trainer all in one!!! In addition, I also still do Program Management for my day job for a Fortune 50 company (IT Consulting)
Any big plans?
I hope our Cinnaholic brand continues to grow as more people realize the benefits of a plant-based diet, and most in Texas think because it’s vegan it will taste bad??? Like my grandma said try it first, lol most people try it and you can see the look of disbelief on their face after the first bite almost like their mind is blown and they always ask… HOW did you make it taste like the “real” thing?!!” I tell them trust me, just because it’s vegan or plant-based doesn’t mean it’s healthy or going to taste healthy luckily, we have such good plant-based ingredients these days and substitutes and recipes you can’t tell the difference!!!
Contact Info:
- Website: cinnaholicfriscotx.com
- Instagram: @cinnaholicfrisco
- Facebook: @cinnaholicfrisco
