For over a decade the trend towards buying experiences over stuff has grown and shows no signs of slowing down. It started with paint-your-own pottery and expanded into businesses like escape rooms, wine and paint nights, cooking classes and more. Experiential retail isn’t going anywhere, instead it continues to evolve with new offerings like Top Golf and the fastest growing experiential franchise in the country, Duff’s CakeMix.
One factor continuing to add fuel to the trend is the fact that everyone just lived through a global pandemic that unnaturally forced people to isolate. This created a profound sense of loneliness and disconnect in many. Concepts like Duff’s CakeMix, which brings people together to whimsically decorate their own cake, meet consumer’s pent-up demand for connection and community.
The Recipe for Success
“Duff’s Cakemix brings people together for the fun of Cake decorating. We start with the foundation of our signature cakes and then you choose one of over 100 different designs for you to create your own individual masterpiece,” said founder Celebrity Cakemaker Duff Goldman. “We offer a unique experience that drives fun and a sense of accomplishment to all of our guests!
Duff’s CakeMix allows everyone to become their own Ace of Cakes. It’s a popular date night, corporate team building event and party place. Unlike pottery or paint concepts, it generates more repeat visitors since guest eat their creations and then are ready to make another.
For the franchisee the operations are simple; no commercial kitchen is needed, and no professional baker is required. It gives someone the chance to be in the hospitality/restaurant industry without all the costs and the hassles. Labor costs are low, there is very little prep and surprisingly little clean-up. Additionally, there are multi-revenue streams from the DIY studio, as well as retail sales of grab and go cake slices and cupcakes.
“Duffs’s Cakemix is a great franchise brand that offers a fun unique Do It Yourself Cake Decorating experience with our signature proprietary cakes,” said Pamela Fazio, CEO of Duff’s CakeMix. “Our brand does not have any direct competition in the franchise arena therefore that sets us apart from any competition. We have created systems that drive operational efficiencies with minimal labor costs and systemize the concept.
Science Backed
People often think they’ll be happy when they can buy the bigger house, the sports car or that designer purse, but these material things aren’t what drives happiness. Study after study proves that experiences that create memories bring us more joy than expensive things.
In a recent paper, “Spending on Doing Promotes More Moment-to-Moment Happiness than Spending on Having,” published in the May 2020 issue of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, researchers found that consumers are happier when they spend money on experiences vs. material items. The study involved 2,635 adults randomly assigned to the material or experience group who were sent random texts to monitor their purchases and feelings about the purchases. The results were that happiness was higher for those who consumed experiences rather than purchased goods, regardless of how luxurious or expensive the item purchased was.
In another study by researchers at Cornell University they found that experiential purchases fostered social connection. People felt more connected to others doing the same experience and more connected to people in general. Additionally, participating in experiential activities led people to act more pro socially.
For franchisees looking for an easy-to-operate, high ROI business that also adds to the community and increases people’s overall level of happiness, contact us today to learn more about becoming a Duff’s CakeMix franchisee.
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