Duffeyrolls same as they ever were.

• Author: Cote, Mike
• Position: COTE'S colorado - Company overview

NICK AULT SAYS HE DIDN'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT running a business when he and his short-time business partner Jim Duffey founded Duffeyrolls. He only knew they had a great recipe for cinnamon buns and that it was something he could get passionate about.

Over the next 25 years, Ault found out just how much he didn't know, and he's happy he can talk about it from the perspective of someone who has been to the brink and found his way back.

And the way back was the Duffeyroll. Ault just had to wander away from it for a while to discover the secret to his success was flour, butter, cinnamon and homespun appeal.

On a recent fall morning outside the Duffeyroll Cafe on South Pearl Street in Denver, Ault was excited to talk about his latest business addition. He just tricked up an air-cooled Volkswagen van to sell Duffeyrolls on the 16th Street Mall, a new twist on the company's flagship pushcart business. But he's just as enthusiastic talking about his misfires.

"When I first started Duffey's I really wasn't a businessman at all, and I didn't really understand food costs and labor costs," said Auk, who lives several blocks away from the cafe. "I thought the bottom line was that we had a great recipe, and if we just made people happy, we'd build a business that way. It was a very important foundation but also naivete that almost cost me the business."

Over time, that naivete prompted Ault to expand the business in many directions: door-to-door sales, wholesale accounts, catering, gift baskets and two additional retail locations beyond the flagship store on East Hampden Avenue.

"I couldn't figure out how we could have all this stuff shaking in the business and why we weren't making money," said Ault, who bought out his namesake partner a year after they started the business. "I just wasn't sophisticated enough at the time to under- stand that, side."

It wasn't so difficult for Auk's accountant to decipher: Ault was selling the large Duffey Rolls for $1 each - about half of what he needed to charge if he wanted to stay in business.

"I was faced with whether people would pay $2 for a cinnamon roll." said Ault, who was about to learn an important lesson about branding. "My accountant, made an interesting point: Is it a cinnamon roll or is it a Duffeyroll?"

The first customer to confront sticker shock was an attorney who came in to buv his usual dozen to eel-ebratc a legal victory.

"When he came in, I chickened out and went into I he bathroom and told...