How a Smashed Window Actually Helped His Business
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Nick Rodriguez doesn't consider himself calm under pressure. But when a man threw a glass bottle through the window of his cupcake shop, he didn't yell, panic or fight back. He shut the door, checked on his staff and kept going.
It wasn't the first time he'd bet on grace instead of anger.
Rodriguez is the owner of Famous Creations, a bakery and catering business based in Fairfield, California, known for its outrageous cupcake flavors — think chicken and waffles, Patron margarita and one literally called "Heart Attack." But it's not just the treats that keep people coming back. It's Rodriguez.
"People can get cake anywhere," he tells Shawn Walchef of Cali BBQ Media on the Restaurant Influencers podcast. "They come here because of how we make them feel."
Related: Giada De Laurentiis's Major Deal With Amazon Is a New Frontier for the Chef and Entrepreneur
When his shop went viral on Instagram, with a video that reached 11.2 million views, he didn't pivot into a victim. He stayed rooted in what's made his business work for 12 years: authenticity, creativity and relentless service.
The now-infamous video shows a man shattering Famous Creations' storefront window with a bottle. Rodriguez never retaliated. He didn't even raise his voice. "Getting mad wasn't going to fix the window," he says. What followed was more telling than the incident itself. Customers flooded in, not with sympathy donations, but with cupcake orders.
And behind the scenes, his insurance provider, NEXT (a Restaurant Influencers sponsor), stepped up fast, covering the damages and helping him move on with barely a hiccup. This wasn't his origin story, but it reflected it.
Related: These College Friends Wanted to Sell Better Food. Now, Their Company Is Publicly Traded.
Follow your passion
Rodriguez used to work at AT&T, but he hated it. He jokes that he got himself fired on purpose, and maybe that's true. But he already had a backup plan.
After raising over $1,200 at a charity bake sale, he went all-in on baking from home. Within 15 months, he'd opened his first storefront. He built the business without investors or loans, just a lot of butter, hustle and community buzz on social media.
Even today, with two locations and over 150 cupcake flavors, Rodriguez still keeps it scrappy. His second store doesn't have a kitchen, so his staff bakes everything in Fairfield and shuttles it over by hand. And while some entrepreneurs obsess over perfect branding or viral content, Rodriguez posts whatever feels right.
"My followers hear my voice in what I write. That's what matters," he says. "If you're a small business owner, just post. Be messy. Be real. Not everyone's going to like you. That's okay."
Related: Fans Are Tattooing This Pizza Brand's Logo on Their Skin for a Year of Free Slices
That attitude came in handy when the window story blew up online. Comments rolled in, some supportive, and some vicious — the kind that try to tell you who you are, how you think and even who you voted for, all because of how you handled a stranger's outburst. Eventually, Rodriguez turned off the comments.
What he didn't turn off was the message. The same mindset that got him through corporate burnout, two storefront launches and a few viral firestorms is the one that pushes him forward.
"No one's ever going to love your business like you do," Rodriguez says. "You have to protect it. Build it smart."
The window broke. His voice didn't — and neither did the business.
Related: This Chef Lost His Restaurant the Week Michelin Called. Now He's Made a Comeback By Perfecting One Recipe.
About Restaurant Influencers
Restaurant Influencers is brought to you by Toast, the powerful restaurant point-of-sale and management system that helps restaurants improve operations, increase sales and create a better guest experience.
Toast — Powering Successful Restaurants. Learn more about Toast.
Restaurant Influencers is also supported by NEXT INSURANCE. See why 600,000+ U.S. businesses trust NEXT for insurance.
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