Customers have been queuing up to four hours to try the freshly baked cinnamon scrolls at Cinnabon's first NSW store at Darling Square.

The US-based bakery chain opened its Sydney outpost on January 7, offering a limited menu of classic and caramel pecan rolls.

Less than week on and an estimated 2800 scrolls have been sold to eager Sydney customers, many of whom were undeterred by the long wait.

"We knew we would attract a lot of people but not this many," says franchisee Alby Lam. "It's really, really surprising."

On Friday morning the wait time is between 45 minutes to an hour. First time customer Nathan Williams says it was worth every minute.

"It's full on, it's actually amazing," he says, biting into a scroll topped with roasted pecans and dripping with caramel sauce.

Cinnabon uses trademarked makara cinnamon from Indonesia, cream cheese and soft, sugary dough to create their signature cinnamon rolls.

"It's a really unique texture. I had one customer line up three days in a row, two hours each day, just to get another bite," Lam says.

At the Darling Square location, the buns are made in front of the customer and baked every 30 minutes. The dough is soft and warm, topped with thickly spread vanilla cream cheese and oozing with caramelised brown sugar. The pecans add a satisfying crunch.

"They're so good, but you need to request them fresh," says Alexis Anastovski, who bought multiple boxes to share with friends and family at home.

Anastovski decided to line up after seeing Cinnabon featured on TikTok and Instagram. Videos of the store racked up hundreds of thousands of views, with creators such as @martymcnuggets urging people to "run, don't walk".

Others, such as Williams, are familiar with the brand from its popularity overseas. Cinnabon operates more than 1200 bakeries in 48 countries and has appeared on TV shows such as Better Call Saul and Brooklyn 99.

Professor of marketing at UNSW Business School Nikita Garg says young consumers are drawn to US-based food chains such as Taco Bell, In-N-Out and Cinnabon for the novelty factor.

"Gen Z and millennials have been exposed to these brands through movies, TV series and celebrities on TikTok," she says.

"Now they finally have a chance to try it for themselves.

"It will be interesting to see what happens after the initial hype."