US bakery brand Cinnabon will be opening six new locations across the UK this year, according to master franchisee EG On The Move.

The sweet treat specialist recently rolled out kiosks at the Bullring retail mall in Birmingham and in Livingston, West Lothian, with its expansion plans for the rest of 2024 set to include more outlets in Scotland as well as at London’s Brent Cross Shopping Centre.

These will join Cinnabon UK’s shop estate of 14 locations currently in operation nationwide, including its flagship store in Newcastle opened a year ago. The latest openings follow a restructure of the brand’s estate which saw more than half of its sites close in 2023 after the franchisee made changes to its operations to focus on stores and kiosks in high footfall locations.

“The response to our outlets is amazing, we always open to crowds and the feedback is great,” commented Harjinder Dasanjh, the brand manager of Cinnabon UK who is coordinating the retail expansion.

“Whether a kiosk, store or even our Cinnabus, the products are in demand. We have bold plans for the UK which include another London opening and a strong presence in Scotland; our first Scottish kiosk opened in July in Livingston to great success,” he added.

The Cinnabus is a mobile truck launched last summer that helps bring the brand’s range of iced sticky buns including classic cinnamon rolls as well as cold and hot drinks to ‘Cinnafans’ across the country living away from its stores.

Earlier this year, Cinnabon launched the Chocobon made with Oreo created through a partnership with the sandwich cookie brand. It comprises a dough roll filled with chocolate sauce, covered with frosting and Oreo crumb sprinkles, drizzled with chocolate sauce, and topped with a mini Oreo cookie.

Available at stores and via Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Just Eat, or its website, the standard Chocobon made with Oreo comes in packs of two or six, while mini versions can be bought in packs of six or 12. There’s also Bonbites sold at selected stores only in packs of four.

Cinnabon was founded in 1985 in Seattle, and is now based in Atlanta. It is grown to operate more than 1,850 locations worldwide, primarily in high-traffic venues such as shopping malls, airports, train stations, travel plazas, entertainment centres, and military establishments.  

EG Group became the master franchisee of Cinnabon in 2020, opening the first store in Blackburn amid ambitious expansion plans. Following the sale of the majority of its UK and Ireland business to Asda for £2.3bn in early 2023, the company set up the EG On The Move subsidiary to runs its remaining petrol forecourts as well as franchises of Cinnabon, Sbarro, Chaiiwala, Starbucks, and KFC.

EG Group also retained Cooplands, its wholly-owned bakery business that has nearly 160 shops across Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, and the northeast of England.