Within days, one of D.C.’s popular cupcake bakeries went from serving up sweet treats to closing its doors, but not before employees faced the task of clearing out the Georgetown space.
Sprinkles manager Leslie Wynter talked to WTOP as she called out to remaining employees which pieces had already been claimed and what still had to be cleared out.
“If anyone wants a piece of Sprinkles before we’re gone completely, they can come in and grab whatever is not bolted down, because that was one of the only directives we were given — is to clear everything out,” she said.
The company closed all 20 locations and over 30 of its “cupcake ATMs” it operates across the nation.
“We’re doing as much as we can,” said Wynter, who explained she’d been given until the end of the day Friday to empty the once-bustling bakery. “We’ve got some former employees volunteering their time just out of love for us, but it is a very daunting task.”
Wynter said on Monday, general managers got “a brief call just to let us know what was going on,” and then by Tuesday morning, the word came down that the Georgetown store would be shut down for good on Wednesday.
“And that was it,” Wynter said matter-of-factly.
Wynter had worked at Sprinkles for nearly four years and told WTOP the employees really did feel like family.
“Myself, along with my staff, will be in the unemployment line filing for all of the things that we can,” she said. “Some of my staff have said that they’re going to start a book club and resume-writing workshops, and just doing everything that we can to support each other in the new year.”
Sprinkles is one of the businesses that kicked off the cupcake craze nearly two decades ago.
Candace Nelson, the founder of Sprinkles, commented on the closures in a social media post where she pointed out that she sold the company in 2012 to private investment firm KarpReilly, LLC.
“I thought Sprinkles would keep growing and be around forever,” Nelson said in the video. “I thought it was going to be my legacy.”
WTOP has reached out to Sprinkles for comment.
