Seller Roark Capital Owns Many Restaurant Brands, Including Subway and Dunkin’
- KKR will buy Nothing Bundt Cakes from Roark Capital for $2 billion, inside sources say.
- Nothing Bundt Cakes opened its 700th store in May 2025.
- Two friends founded the brand in 1997.
- The seller, Roark Capital, also owns Inspire Brands, which could go public as early as this year.
Nothing Bundt Cakes soon will be acquired by a third private equity firm, KKR. According to various media reports, insiders have said KKR has struck a deal to acquire the steadily growing Nothing Bundt Cakes chain from Roark Capital for about $2 billion.
Roark Capital bought Nothing Bundt Cakes from Levine Leichtman Capital Partners in May 2021 for an undisclosed amount. At that time, the bakery chain had 390 locations. That affirms strong unit growth since 2016, when Levine Leichtman took ownership of the chain’s roughly 175 Nothing Bundt Cakes stores, QSR Magazine stated in its report on the upcoming KKR acquisition.
Nothing Bundt Cakes appeals to entrepreneurs because of strong unit economics. Locations that have been opened two or more years will average roughly $1.4 million in revenue each year, according to Technomic, a food-industry research and consulting company.
Growth Under Roark
During its four-plus years of ownership, Roark has powered robust growth for the dessert brand, which is based in the Dallas area.
In 2024 it added 101 new stores, according to a news release from the chain. And by the end of that year, Nothing Bundt Cakes had a total of 643 locations, an increase of almost 19% compared with the previous year, Restaurant Business said. Local franchisees own most of the brand’s stores.
Nothing Bundt Cakes’ latest published franchise disclosure document indicates it had been scheduled to open more than 120 locations last year. California, Florida and Texas were expected to be the sites of more than a dozen new stores in each state, QSR Magazine reported. In May of last year, the news release said the cake brand had celebrated the opening of its 700th location in Rosenberg, Texas, a Houston-area community. Nothing Bundt Cakes has locations in Canada as well as the United States.
History of Nothing Bundt Cakes
Two close friends, Debbie Schwetz and Dena Tripp, founded the concept in 1997 in Las Vegas. The two moms’ goal, according to the Nothing Bundt Cakes website, was to “bake happiness into every bite.” Schwetz and Tripp began their entrepreneurial dream by baking the Bundt cakes in their home kitchens.
Nothing Bundt Cakes is known for its diverse flavors such as White Chocolate Raspberry, Chocolate Chocolate Chip, Red Velvet, Carrot, Snickerdoodle and Strawberries & Cream, among others. The treats are available in 8- and 10-inch sizes as well as miniature Bundtlets, which are designed as single-serving desserts.
About KKR
The cake specialist’s next owner, KKR, was established in 1976 by Jerome Kohlberg, Henry Kravis and George Roberts. It formerly was called Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
KKR has headquarters in New York City and operates globally, with investments that include an array of restaurant-related brands such as MyPizzaTechnologies, RestaurantDive.com reported. KKR also co-led a $135 million funding round for Restaurant365 in 2023, and in 2024 it took a large stake in Rebel Foods, a ghost kitchen company based in India, according to The Wall Street Journal.
About Roark Capital
Atlanta-based Roark Capital is a huge player in the arena of restaurant franchises. It acquired the Subway sandwich brand in 2023 in a $9 billion-plus acquisition. Roark created Inspire Brands in 2018 as an owner, operator and franchisor of a restaurant portfolio that today includes Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dave’s Hot Chicken, Jimmy John’s, Sonic Drive-In and Dunkin’.
Roark acquired Dave’s Hot Chicken in June 2025 for a reported $1 billion. In its report about the Nothing Bundt Cakes deal, The Wall Street Journal noted that in 2020 Roark had acquired Dunkin’ in an $11 billion take-private deal.
The private equity firm appears to be considering an Inspire Brands initial public offering that could raise about $2 billion this year, Bloomberg reported in early March. Sources told Bloomberg that the potential IPO is still being explored and that no details have been nailed down yet.
