Exclusive | Final shift at Sprinkles Cupcakes was chaotic and sad, employee says

Heartbroken Sprinkles Cupcakes’ employees were blindsided by news the beloved bakery was abruptly shutting all of its stores nationwide — with the final shift descending into a chaotic and “very sad” mess as orders quadrupled, one staffer told The Post.

The iconic cupcake company, which was born and bred in California, dropped the bombshell Wednesday that it was shuttering all of its locations after roughly 20 years in business.

Kimberly Salgado, who worked for the viral bakery for three years, said she was given just 24 hours notice that she was about to work her final shift at the company’s Irvine location.

“It was very hectic and very sad. It’s all over after today basically,” Salgado said just moments after she shut up shop on Wednesday.

Soon after the devastating news broke, Salgado said her store was inundated with orders as customers scrambled to get one last bite.

“Today we had 20 pre-orders. Then we had 85 pre-orders after the news broke,” the avid baker said.

As staffers were grappling with the flurry of final orders, Salgado said she and her coworkers were forced to try and get their heads around how the company could keep them in the dark.

“At first I was in denial and shock when my manager told me that. As the day went on I felt really sad and I felt really angry because it just felt like betrayal,” she said.

“[It was a] complete surprise to everybody, there was no talks to anybody. We did amazing during the
holidays, our bakery has always done good it seemed like everything was normal.”

“The higher ups knew for sure that this was going to happen, they just didn’t tell us. They let us be in the dark and spend our Christmas Eve there and work hard during the holidays to get them that holiday profit and then they just dumped us on New Year’s Eve,” Salgado continued.

“That feels like such betrayal to me.”

Salgado, who helped open the Irvine spot, said everyone was in tears as they said closed the doors just shy of the New Year.

“A lot of us lost our means of living and we are no longer co-workers and that’s very sad,” she said.

“I loved doing it, baking is a passion of mine. They gave us one day to tell us that that’s not a thing anymore.”

The employee acknowledged the outpouring of grief from customers off the back of the announcement but noted they should spare a thought for the staffers who no longer have a paycheck.

“Everyone on social media is like ‘Oh my God, no I love Sprinkles, I love their cupcakes.’ But no-one is talking about the fact that people are losing their means to live,” she said.

“It’s pretty dystopian all these people crying over a cupcake when no one ever thinks about the people who made it happen.”

The company was founded by Candace Nelson in Beverly Hills in 2005 and quickly became a viral sensation after she introduced the cupcake ATM seven years later.  

Nelson, who sold the company to a private equity firm in 2014, addressed news of the sudden closures in a social media statement on Wednesday, saying it wasn’t “how I thought the story would go.”

“I thought Sprinkles would keep growing and be around forever. I thought it would be my legacy,” she said.

The company’s closure notice indicated “financial conditions due to unforeseen business circumstances” was to blame for the sudden closure.

“The wind-down process will be conducted in an orderly manner to address remaining operational obligations and preserve value to the extent practicable,” the notice said.