Skip to content

Don’t Worry, Hot Cakes Isn’t Closing

Owner Autumn Martin sets the record straight after a little misunderstanding.

By Chelsea Lin July 7, 2017

hot-cakes-pic

On Monday, neighborhood blog Eat Ballard posted on Facebook that beloved dessert haven Hot Cakes was being sold—owner Autumn Martin calling it quits and reportedly asking $1.8 million for both Ballard and Capitol Hill locations. Followers immediately left comments of the “OMG!” variety, and Martin says her phone started blowing up with panicky messages from friends and Hot Cakes employees.

The problem is, Martin says, Hot Cakes isn’t going anywhere.

Instead, Martin says she’s looking for opportunities to grow Hot Cakes—she says she’d like to open a Tacoma location, and perhaps expand to other states. “I’m just not the person to do it,” she says. “I don’t have the steam in my engine.”

That’s a totally understandable situation, as I don’t think Martin has stopped moving since she was first peddling those little molten cakes at farmers markets. Now, she says she’s spent the last year or so meeting with people and exploring the opportunity of partnering with someone who has the business savvy to grow her already successful business. “It’s a pretty intense process trying to find the right person or people that can really understand Hot Cakes, that I get along with, and that have both the vision and the experience,” she says. “I’m not opposed to anything… I think selling is absolutely an option, but it has to be the right circumstance.”

Eat Ballard clearly found a post on BizBuySell listing “two very successful and profitable premium dessert restaurants in Seattle;” Martin says the ad was placed by someone she’s been working with to meet potential partners, but that it doesn’t tell the whole story. “There’s no quitting in any of this,” she insists. “There’s only growth and expansion.”

While I had her on the phone, I asked Martin if she was planning to also grow Frankie & Jo’s, her plant-based ice cream shop (with partner Kari Brunson) with a single Capitol Hill location—and lines down the block at the merest hint of sunny weather. “We would totally like to,” she says, saying though how difficult it is to scale up when the product is as à la minute (i.e. made in house and without stabilizers) as their ice cream. The challenge there is how to expand and still preserve the quality—something she’s already nailed with Hot Cakes’ current locations.

So stop your panicking—those rich, gooey chocolate cakes (and boozy shakes and the best chocolate chip cookies and…) are here to stay.

Follow Us

Restaurant Roundup: Pride Picks and Egypt’s National Dish

Restaurant Roundup: Pride Picks and Egypt’s National Dish

Here’s what was served up recently in the Emerald City.

Pride is here and if you’re keen on showing a little extra support to bars and restaurants run by members of the LGBTQ+ community, you’re in luck—there are quite a few to choose from. Whether you raise a glass at WeRise Wines, enjoy a slice at A la Mode Pies, or slurp up the hand-pulled…

This Summer, Get Hitched at Town Hall

This Summer, Get Hitched at Town Hall

Cake & Punch brings fully planned micro weddings to one of Seattle’s best-known stages.

Almost exactly 16 years ago, over Memorial Day weekend, my husband and I left work in Fremont and boarded a seaplane to Victoria, B.C., to get married. We were both working in tech at the time, and the whole plan was wonderfully small. I wore a colorful Anthropologie dress I’d bought for $150, and my…

Restaurant Roundup: Burgermaster Opens in Issaquah and Karaoke Returns

Restaurant Roundup: Burgermaster Opens in Issaquah and Karaoke Returns

Here’s what was served up recently in the Emerald City.

Summer presents an interesting dilemma for parents, especially those who could really use a night off from cooking. Do you grin and bear it and stay at home? Or do you head out to eat and hope the one-two punch of tablet time and coloring books can get you at least an hour to enjoy…

Restaurant Roundup: Live-Fire Cooking and Galician Prix Fixe

Restaurant Roundup: Live-Fire Cooking and Galician Prix Fixe

Here’s what was served up recently in the Emerald City.

Like a juicy beef patty smacked between two buns, next Thursday is National Burger Day, and one local burger joint is making sure you experience the occasion on a full stomach. From 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Uneeda Burger in Fremont is giving away one free Classic Burger — that’s romaine, tomato, pickles, and house…