Chrissy Nix Photography
When the pandemic struck, the Zitos, like so many others, watched their careers come to a screeching halt as the country locked down.
Christin, a celebrity hair and makeup artist, and husband “Zito,” a production manager touring for over 20 years, suddenly found themselves with no way to pay their bills, and more free time than ever. What the couple didn’t know was that cinnamon rolls would lead them from setback to sweet success.
It all started on Easter Sunday when the duo was deciding what to make for their weekly “cheat meal.” Never having made a cinnamon roll before, Zito took a stab at making a sourdough version frosted with salted vanilla buttercream for the ideal salty-meets-sweet mashup. From the very first bite the couple knew these were the best they’d ever tasted.
They weren’t the only ones who couldn’t get enough of these sweet treats. A seemingly insignificant Instagram photo of Zito’s masterpiece quickly had the entire neighborhood chomping at the bit for the decadent rolls.
“I posted it on Instagram and people just went crazy,” Christin recalls. “So, we made a Google Doc form, just for the heck of it, and posted it in our neighborhood Facebook group and we had over 60 orders in 24 hours.”
Chrissy Nix Photography
Soon the orders jumped from 60 to 80, to 120, then to over 200, every week the skyrocketing interest shocking them more, and leading to panicked late-night Pyrex restock runs. With that, Rock N Rollz Nashville (then known as The Z Bakery Nashville) was born.
“The crazy thing about this is that now we’re consistently over 750 cinnamon rolls a week in just nine weeks,” says Christin. “It’s kind of insane the way that it’s grown but we’re extremely grateful for it because this is the way that we’re covering our bills. If we didn’t have this, we truly wouldn’t make it.”
But the cinnamon rolls aren’t just a saving grace for the Zitos. The couple is using their unexpected success to help others who have lost their jobs, too. For every roll sold, they donate 50 cents to MusiCares, an organization that provides support to musicians and touring professionals during crises.
“I love the people who work for me. That’s my heart,” says Zito. “As people are really hurting and struggling to pay bills I looked at all the organizations that were out there and MusiCares was one that kept coming up as actually putting money in the pockets of people that need help not just during COVID-19, but during the tornado, and during personal crises,” says Zito.
Additionally, as Rock N Rollz Nashville has expanded its staff (and grown from an at-home operation into an industrial kitchen), they’ve been able to hire out-of-work tour roadies to help out. With no physical location, the bakery uses a preordering system with pop-up locations for pickups. Order forms go live on their website every Wednesday at 5 p.m., and cinnamon rolls can be picked up that weekend at one of three locations (East Nashville, Franklin, and Mt. Juliet).
What started as a cheat meal has grown into more than the Zitos ever imagined, and has become a source of inspiration and hope extending far beyond the two of them.
“Seeing the encouragement that it has given other people—I didn’t expect that. But the notes we get from people saying, ‘Wow, what you’re doing is so amazing; we love supporting you guys; we love hearing your story,’ are so cool,” says Zito. “It was organic for us, and I think the best things always come up that way. We didn’t sit and think how we can market this and how we can get people interested—we just made some rolls one day and now we can’t stop.”