Rollover

One night in 2017, Ricardo Serrano was craving a cinnamon roll but did not want to cross the border from his home in Tijuana into San Diego to get one. Instead, he decided to make his own, tinkering in his kitchen to perfect a recipe that became the basis for Rollover — his cinnamon roll business with brick and mortar stores, online delivery and a growing customer base.

When beginning in 2018, Ricardo sold cinnamon rolls from his home — which he calls his “first storefront.” Then, he began using the WhatsApp Business app to spread the word. Now, approximately 60 percent of his rolls are sold through the private messaging service.

“With tools like WhatsApp Business, we have been able to open our second store,” says Ricardo, describing his newest cinnamon roll location in the food court of Plaza Rio in Tijuana.

When opening in Plaza Rio, he messaged all of his customers using the WhatsApp Business app, inviting them to visit. The quick replies feature means Ricardo can provide personalized attention to each of his customers and the labels feature makes it easy for him to track the progress of every order.

Ricardo’s customers like interacting with him via WhatsApp, too.

Francisco Quiñones — who works on the Mexico-U.S. border — uses WhatsApp to share his location with Ricardo and orders rolls right to his office. “I just open the app and ask Rollover to send me X number of boxes.”

Standing behind the counter at Rollover's new location, Ricardo beams. He is excited to share his cinnamon rolls with more people and with the help of the WhatsApp Business app, Ricardo is living his entrepreneurial dream — one order at a time.