DINING TASTE
Icing on the Cake
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By Tom Worgo Photography by Stephen Buchanan
honda 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 parttime 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.
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What’s Up? West County | September 2021 | whatsupmag.com
NOTHING BUNDT CAKES 1901 Towne Centre Boulevard, Ste. 130, Annapolis 443-775-7979 nothingbundtcakes.com
“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. 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
