If you take a stroll past the normal hibernational storefront of well-loved Ithaca staple Sweet Melissa’s, you might catch the scent of cinnamon in the air. Two current employees of Sweet Melissa’s, twenty-year-old Iris Lauper and nineteen-year-old Cecily Hansen, have taken advantage of the vacant premises to start their very own cinnamon roll pop-up: Ithaca Hot Buns. With the aid of Sweet Mellissa’s co-owner, Melissa Kenny, the young pair became first-time business owners. This journey has come with successes and challenges.
“We don’t really know anything: how much to make, our specials, how to advertise, and who to advertise to. We thought we would be starting from the bottom, no customers, but because we’ve had our regulars from Sweet Melissa’s, it hasn’t been a big issue,” says Iris. Indeed, Melissa Kenny’s sixteen years in the business have proved a valuable resource. In fact, the whole thing was originally her idea. With a seasonal job, the hunt for income through the winter is a challenge every employee must face. And yet, Ithaca natives mourn the closing of the best ice cream in town. And so, two birds with one stone, Ithaca Hot Buns hit the scene.
Ithaca Hot Buns is a pop-up open only on weekends, from 10 am to 2 pm, or until they run out. The team has found initial success; in their first couple of weeks, they sold out within only hours. Yet as the initial excitement of a new business dies down, the shop must struggle with what every restaurant faces: how to get customers and keep them. “A big struggle we’ve had is how to keep people interested as we get into week five. The exciting part has kind of ended, so we’re just trying to keep people involved while continuing to live our lives around it.” One of the business’s most intriguing aspects is its specials. They have their regulars: coffee and cinnamon rolls, but they also have a weekly special flavor of cinnamon rolls, along with ever-changing baked goods such as cookies, brownies, and the like. With my humble experience of going almost every weekend, I can say that their special cinnamon rolls truly are a game-changer. My personal favorite was the maple pecan, yet every new flavor seems to exceed my expectations. Their creativity is unmatched when it comes to dreaming up new types of delicious delicacies.
A strong social media presence, community of regulars, and weekly specials have certainly helped the pair to find success. Yet, how long Ithaca Hot Buns remains open is dependent on how much revenue they have. A foreboding cold winter only creates more homebodies, yet also strikes a desire for warm cinnamon rolls. Will the pop-up survive the winter and return again? Unclear, but “it’s [a] good experience to have in the world either way.”
Your opportunity to experience their tasty baked goods may be temporary. Don’t let this yummy opportunity slip away, and bring cash!