Store: All bundt, all the time

Nothing Bundt Cakes is customizing a storefront at Smithridge Shopping Center to sell bundt cakes.

That's all. Just bundts.

John and Diane Coats of Reno bought the franchise from a company launched 10 years ago in Las Vegas. The first store there drew customer comments like: "A store doing just bundt cakes? Are you nuts!?" says company co-founder Debbie Shwetz, director of franchising. "We were devastated."

But now the Reno store owners can point to the track record set by the company-owned stores as the reason why they bought a franchise that's still in its infancy. The Reno store is just the second franchise to open, following the first in Powy, Calif.

"The Las Vegas stores sell 300 bundt cakes a day during holiday season," says Diane Coats. Birthday parties bring single orders but the big orders come from business.

"My son-in-law, a podiatrist in Las Vegas, orders 100 cakes each year to send to doctors who refer patients." Pharmaceutical reps are also big buyers.

Bundt cakes come in a dozen varieties, each with festive trim. An oven at the 1,500-square-foot store can bake 40 cakes at a time, says Coats.

The store will employ five to start, with 10 or more for the holiday season. Cakes cost $18 to $40 depending on complexity, with special orders and delivery available.

But the company founders spent 10 years refining the process, cooked up by Shwetz and friend Dena Tripp during a dinner party.

Right off the bat, a title and a mortgage company each asked them to send over 400 cakes a month.

"We said sure, no problem," Shwetz recalls. "Then we had a panic attack in the parking lot."

With two stores in Las Vegas, the partners opened a third in Phoenix and spent five years developing a business process and learning how to support a remote location, says Shwetz.

"So many people asked if we were a franchise. After so many requests, we decided we had to look into this."