A cinnamon roll sold out of a car trunk sounds like a weekend bake sale. In Broward County, Florida, it turned into a small business with a mailing list, a pickup address and a hard limit on how many rolls one person can take home.
Anthony Perez and Sean Kotowich, the engaged couple behind the TikTok-famous Chubby Boy Rolls, now sell oversized cinnamon rolls through nearly weekly preorder drops with pickup in Wilton Manors, plus occasional pop-ups, Miami New Times reported on Nov. 12. Less than a year ago, the outlet said, they were selling out of a trunk at a local library. Customers are capped at three rolls each, for both preorders and pop-ups.
From a Library Trunk to Nearly Weekly Drops
According to Miami New Times, the couple started the microbakery in December 2025, though the rolls go back to Kotowich’s first Christmas with Perez’s family. He brought a batch to dinner, and the rolls became a family tradition at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Relatives told Perez he had something worth selling, as the outlet recounted.
At the library, the pair sold every other weekend at first. The trunk, Perez told the outlet, was an extension of what they already liked doing at home, which is hosting. Some apartment buildings have since offered the couple space, because the rolls tend to draw a crowd. The bakery’s website describes the business as a micro-bakery based in Wilton Manors, a city in Broward County covered in a Wikipedia overview.
The business also lives on video. Perez had wanted to start a company for years but was nervous about being on camera, the outlet reported. He filmed the work of launching it, including building the website, designing the logo and working out the recipe, and the clips show the equipment he added as the baking grew. The couple’s account is @chubbyboyrolls on TikTok. Other small food sellers have grown the same way, and craftingyourhome.com covered a laid-off San Diego man who bakes pizzas in his apartment and sells slots that vanish in seconds.
Brioche Dough, Tangzhong and a Guava-and-Cheese First
Perez makes the brioche dough the night before and either pops up or drops by to roll it out the morning of each bake, Miami New Times said. He uses tangzhong, the cooked flour-and-liquid paste used in Japanese milk bread, to keep the dough soft. The method is described on Wikipedia’s page about tangzhong, and the enriched dough style is explained in its brioche entry.
The classic cinnamon roll stays on the menu while the specials rotate. Fans of a cinnamon roll with coffee can browse frenzhub.com’s creative coffee bar ideas for a pairing. The first special was a guava-and-cheese roll, a nod to both the pastry and Perez’s mother, the outlet reported. Other specials have included coquito and apple crumb, with a tiramisu version in the works. Coquito is the creamy coconut holiday drink of Puerto Rico, outlined on Wikipedia’s coquito page. For the base recipe, a general history of the pastry sits in the cinnamon roll article.
Home bakers who watch the videos and wonder what the setup takes may find a frenzhub.com roundup of kitchen remodel ideas on a shoestring budget a useful companion, though Perez says he plans to keep baking at home as long as he can. A frenzhub.com post on breakfast station picks for 2026 shows how home cooks organize a morning rush, and a craftingyourhome.com story about a mom who makes weekend breakfast for her household is a reminder of how much of this baking begins at the family table.
Why a Three-Roll Limit Keeps the Line Fair
For preorders, Perez emails a link to Chubby Boy Club subscribers for each drop, according to Miami New Times. Signing up happens on the bakery’s website, and the link works once orders open. The confirmation email includes the Wilton Manors pickup address.
Pop-ups are first come, first served. The couple usually brings 120 to 150 rolls, and Perez uses the same email list to share the location and how many he expects to bring. The three-roll cap applies to both preorders and pop-ups. As the outlet pointed out, the cap lets a customer count the people ahead and get a rough idea of whether any rolls will remain by the time the line reaches the front. Perez told New Times the point is simple: he does not want people to waste their time.
The idea is practical anywhere food sells fast: a limit like Perez’s spreads a small batch across more neighbors.
A Flan From Perez’s Mother and a Trailer on the Wish List
Chocolate chip cookies and a cheese flan from Perez’s mother are also on the menu. She moved to the United States from Cuba and helps the couple refine their ideas, the outlet said, and she pulled out the flan recipe after they started the bakery. “Now people ask about her before they even ask about me, and it’s totally fine,” Perez said.
Both men still work full time, fitting the baking around their jobs and spending weekends on orders and pop-ups. For now, Perez has a commercial oven, a stand mixer and a refrigerator at home. He has little interest in a permanent storefront. “The goal is to put Chubby Boy on wheels,” he told the outlet, describing a trailer the couple could take from one South Florida neighborhood to the next. A pop-up in New York or Chicago is on his someday list.
Anyone who wants a roll can sign up for the Chubby Boy Club on the bakery’s website, where drop announcements and pop-up locations go out, according to Miami New Times.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Image: Pannet – CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikimedia Commons
