Nothing Bundt Cakes, a national brand which has over 600 franchise stores nationwide, is celebrating two new stores in Northeast Ohio with one in Mayfield Heights and another in Amherst. Dennis Looney, a franchise owner who will own six Nothing Bundt Cakes in the Cleveland area once the Amherst location opens, said that he didn’t think he would be in the bakery business but decided to make the turn from salesperson to bakery owner after he met his wife Janette over 15 years ago in Las Vegas. Janette died from a brain hemorrhage this year over Mother’s Day weekend. Since then, he said that it’s been hard to focus on business, but that he thinks Janette would have wanted him to continue to grow their footprint on the industry in her memory. “She opened our first bakery in Avon and really ran it all by herself, initially,” Looney said. “When we were planning on opening our second bakery in South Euclid, I recognized how much work went into operating one of these and there was no way that she could be expected to open a second one. That’s when I left my corporate job and jumped in and helped her open our second bakery. “We actually acquired our third from a previous owner in Strongsville, and once we did that, then now all of the Nothing Bundt Cakes in the Cleveland market belong to us.” Christian Hall is seen organizing the store. (Frank Mecham- The News-Herald.) He said that once the third location was open, they gained the experience from the workers who were trained by the previous owner and let them take on more flexible marketing strategies since they did not have to compete with another owner. “We ended up getting access to some terrific employees that were at that bakery that are now area managers in the company, so they hung around with us and grew and turned those jobs into careers,” Looney added. Christian Hall helps customers at the Nothing Bundt Cakes Mayfield Heights, 1571 Golden Gate Plaza location. (Frank Mecham- The News-Herald.) In that time that she has been gone, he opened a new location in Mayfield Heights, 1571 Golden Gate Plaza, and said that he wants to continue to grow his franchise operation in order to honor her memory. “It was always her dream to have a Nothing Bundt Cakes bakery and it took us about nine years to finally be in a position to start one and we opened our Avon location, it just kind of grew from there,” Looney said. “This was something that she was very passionate about, we were always the couple that brought bundt cakes to everything that we came to and it just kind of became a part of who we were.” Checking his watch for the date, Looney said, “We lost her six months ago to the day… and we were already in the process of building this bakery and the Amherst bakery out and so we were right in the throes of things and just kept forging along.” A small picture of Janette eating a bundt cake sits atop a large glass enclosure that holds the sweet treats. Dennis said that her favorite flavor was the confetti but that he prefers the white chocolate raspberry. His newly opened Mayfield Heights locations routinely sells out of their red velvet flavor, but that people often come for their seasonal bundt which gets rotated out. A photo of Janette Looney is seen in their Mayfield Heights location. (Frank Mecham- The News-Herald.) “We bake everything right here on the premises,” Looney said. “We make all of our signature cream cheese frosting from scratch. I think a lot of people think that we get our product trucked in but it’s all being baked right back there by our teams.” While their personal sized bundtlet are a popular seller, they also offer 8- and 10-inch and tiered bundt cakes designed to feed multiple people. A smaller option, the ‘bundtinis’ by the dozen, are also a top seller. “They (bundtinis) are great to bring to celebrations, parties, just if you want to share some different flavors with people or try some different things out,” Looney added. “They are kind of like cupcake size, maybe two or three bites each and they come in packs of a dozen, we have a couple assortments that are configured, or you can mix and match as you like.” Cakes that can feed upwards of eight people are shown inside a glass case. (Frank Mecham- The News-Herald.) He said that because of the way the shop is set up, it often surprises people that the bakery is a national brand. “You look around and it has that mom-and-pop feel, and it’s relatively new in Ohio,” Looney said. “Ten years might seem like awhile but it’s a 30-year brand and out West it’s as commonly known out West as any brand that you can come up with. But it does have that sort of hometown feel to it, so it does surprise a lot of people that it’s a chain of bakeries. That does put some people off, but most people are so pleased with the product and the experience that they have here that they share it with their friends and come back.” The personal sized Nothing Bundt Cake are seen behind a glass case. (Frank Mecham- The News-Herald.) He said that they will be having grand opening events at their Amherst location this week until Nov. 17, and all week they will be donating “10 percent of sales will be donated to Lifebanc, healing and saving lives through the coordination of organ, eye and tissue donation.” a news release stated. “On Saturday, the Amherst bakery will donate 20 percent and the Looney’s Avon and Strongsville locations will also donate 20 percent of their sales to Lifebanc.”