GoTo Foods is looking to completely disrupt the dessert space this year with its first original brand, Cinnabon Swirl.
The concept—a mashup of Cinnabon and Carvel—was first introduced in 2022 during the company’s biennial conference. It isn’t a co-brand location where one would see signage for two separate brands like Auntie Anne’s and Jamba or Auntie Anne’s and Cinnabon. Cinnabon Swirl comes with its own colors, merchandise, and store design.
The initial shop will open in Hillsboro, Oregon, sometime in May. More than 30 additional locations are in the pipeline, with three other stores coming this year in Peoria, Arizona; Kennesaw, Georgia; and Pasadena, California.
Cinnabon Swirl features classic Cinnabon and Carvel items, like Cinnabon’s Classic Roll, Caramenl PecanBon, Minibon, and Center of the Roll, and Carvel’s Sundaes, Shakes, and Soft Serve Ice Cream.
But the main attraction is a lineup that combines both chains. Cinnabon executive chef Jennifer Holwill recommends the Bonini, a cinnamon roll filled with Carvel soft service ice cream and then pressed like a panini (but without the grill marks). It’s inspired by Carvel’s Flying Saucer Ice Cream Sandwiches.
There’s also the Cinnabon Swirl Sundae (warm, center swirls of a Cinnabon Classic Roll chopped and topped with Carvel vanilla soft serve and a caramel drizzle) and ice cream sandwiches (Carvel soft serve ice cream swirled between two freshly baked chocolate chip cookies; flavors will rotate monthly).
“We have some things in our pipeline like birthday cake or cold brew,” Holwill says. “There’s certainly a lot of flavors that are going to rotate in and out from a menu standpoint. And the soft serve, as well, as you can get it in the ice cream sandwiches or even à la mode so you can take really any of those monthly rotating flavors and top it on literally just a Classic Roll or even the sundae that we have that features the chopped up cinnamon rolls. So a lot of innovation that will come and go and have exciting rotating flavors.”
Holwill, and her counterpart, Carvel chef Dave Fenner, focused on achieving the right balance of flavor, texture, and overall presentation—how the item looks and feels when the guest eats it. She says that’s often the most challenging part, but believes Cinnabon Swirl overcomes this obstacle with products like the Bonini.
“We know that we needed something really unique for this concept, especially in the age of social media really driving what people are posting and getting excited about,” Holwill says. “So to have a warm, hot, fresh Cinnabon cinnamon roll with the Carvel ice cream inside, there’s just no better way to experience it.”
GoTo Foods (formerly known as Focus Brands) is the franchisor and operator of over 6,900 locations in all 50 states and over 65 countries and territories under the Auntie Anne’s, Carvel, Cinnabon, Jamba, Moe’s, McAlister’s, and Schlotzsky’s brand names.
