The Holey Donuts!® Story
Back in 1958, my father was literally one of the first franchisees with what is today the world’s most successful donut chain. Spending my childhood in the back of a donut shop eventually led to me running and owning my own donut shops. Always having a love for donuts, I set out to create a donut like no other; something that would elevate donuts to a new level; something more high-end, more gourmet, and really just the best donut you could make. Then one day, I walked away from the deep fat fryer and began to actually cook my donuts in a different way. Then at first bite, I said "HOLY $#!%, these are really good!" Thus, the name Holey Donuts!
Having a feeling that these donuts had to be very low in fat, we sent samples off to an FDA approved lab for testing… low and behold, they had less than 3 grams of fat. Wow, we were just amazed at the light, fluffy taste, texture and light color (which is the way donuts actually look before they are fried in that same dirty oil over and over again). From there, it was a story of dedication and perseverance to do whatever it took to succeed and bring these great tasting, guilt free treats to the world. After all, the Wall Street Journal put it best when they said "Food companies have been able to take most of the fat out of everything from cheese to Twinkies. But no one has succeeded in designing a marketable low-fat doughnut."
We knew we had something very special, but we also knew that the donuts would be very difficult to produce, having to be made individually by hand, requiring skills that have mostly been taken over by machines today. These premium, low fat gourmet donuts would require 22 steps from the mixing, hand rolling, cutting, special patented cooking process; and that's all before we hand fill and decorate each donut with the finest homemade care. One by one, we then gently hand package and freeze the donuts before shipping them to you with our carefully designed frozen FedEx delivery system. Once the donuts arrive at your home, we encourage you to store your treats in the freezer, and then follow the instructions on the box to have the ultimate, guilt free treat. It’s like having your own donut shop in your freezer... ever had a warm donut? If you haven't you need to try this. Through our little shop in New York (yes, we are only mail order, sorry no store to visit yet) we have become the media darling. First it was word of mouth, then the celebrities, then the media from New York to Tokyo.
I’ve always talked about Holey Donuts as being the entrepreneurial equivalent to walking on the moon… it’s hard enough to launch a new product, but a low fat donut? A donut so fresh and delicate it had to be sold frozen? You can imagine the challenges and struggles from the early days when I had to raise money from private investors and do whatever it took to get the product out there. Heck, I even delivered donuts from the back of my car around New York City. We never set out to make diet donuts… it just happened because we were not deep frying them. Because we were not looking to make diet donuts, we avoided artificial sweeteners resulting in the fact that nothing about our donuts tasted low fat. Just real donuts with real donut ingredients cooked in a revolutionary way, what we refer to as our "patented process."Loved at first bite by people from around the world, from our delicious and amazing low fat donuts to our custom made crumb donut toppings (yes, we actually bake low fat apple cinnamon muffins and then crumble them up by hand to make that yummy stuff).
We have resisted the temptations that face many successful small companies… yep a few wall street firms and even a national diet delivery company have looked at Holey Donuts!, but we refuse to sell out and become some mass marketed, supermarket product pumped up with all those things that make donuts last on a shelf for weeks. Holey Donuts! consists of a group of private investors who absolutely loved our donuts, concept and vision. These people have the foresight to grab hold of the American Dream and combine their talents to help Holey Donuts! bring better tasting, more wholesome baked goods to the world... from our kitchen to yours.
The future looks even brighter for Holey Donuts! as we put the finishing touches on the new Holey Donuts! retail store concept that will allow people to own and operate a Holey Donuts! retail store. With very low start-up costs, it will also be very simple and efficient for the owner to operate, while offering customers warm donuts that are actually frosted and filled to order right before their eyes (and yes, all while maintaining our unique low fat formula). Something to look forward to.
Thank you and all the best.
Frank Dilullo
Founder of Holey Donuts! |
