Set for Friday, June 2, National Donut Day 2023 is ready to hit the scene like gangbusters. Shoppers are craving sweet donuts in more flavors and combinations than ever before, and you can deliver what they want with relative ease.

National Donut Day presents a tremendous marketing opportunity for bakeries, according to BakeMark. Take pictures of your product and your store and post them on your favorite social media platform. Use the hashtag #NationalDonutDay to generate local excitement and encourage your customers to do the same. This big trend equals big sales.

The celebration traces to 1938, when the Salvation Army began commemorating the veterans, the Salvation Army volunteer Lassies, and the relief efforts during WWI. The Lassies went into the battle zones to help care for the soldiers and the most requested snack by the soldiers became the donut. Hence, National Donut Day being established to celebrate veterans and donuts.

Of course, there will be widespread media coverage, and local and national news teams will be covering the event – both in the field and in the studio. The publicity will drive customers to donut stores and bakeries all weekend. This is an excellent chance to make a favorable impression on new customers. Be prepared for large orders for group gatherings. Schedule small bakes, so your best product is always as fresh as possible.

If you’re looking to shake things up and offer something new and exciting to your customers, then Westco’s Mochi Donut mix from BakeMark is the perfect solution. Westco’s Mochi Donut mix is a specially formulated blend of high-quality ingredients. These include rice flour, sugar, and tapioca starch. This allows you to create soft, chewy, and utterly delicious mochi donuts right in your own bakery. These donuts are not only tasty, but they are also a healthier alternative.

For this mix, simply add water, eggs, canola oil and vegetable shortening. You will have a batch of delicious mochi donuts ready to be fried in just a few minutes. The dough is also very forgiving, so you can easily customize the recipe to your liking by adding different flavors or spices.

Don’t forget BakeMark’s line of dipping icings and toppings. Make sure that your bakery case pops with the colors from BakeMark’s wide range or Sprinkelina sprinkles and blends.

Source: John Unrein / Sosland Publishing Co.

 

Create more sales

Dawn Foods is the partner for donut variety, and for creating more sales with two times the donut mix flavors.

Source: Dawn Foods

With two times the donut mix flavors of the nearest competitor, Dawn will help you create more buying opportunities for current customers—and attract new ones. For creating profits, Dawn is the perfect partner. From the unexpected, like eggnog and orange juice, to more traditional flavors, like blueberry and strawberry, Dawn’s mixes allow you to create excitement and intrigue with your customers.

With exciting flavor varieties your customers will be excited to add another must-try donut to their order. These mixes are perfect for offering limited-time offers and driving seasonal excitement in your bakery.

The new Dawn Gingerbread Donut Mix is a delicious holiday flavor that drives seasonal excitement. Dawn takes all the work out, by optimizing the flavor with a great balance of ginger, molasses, clove, allspice, and nutmeg.

Simplicity and performance - it’s all in the mix, built on the quality and reliability of the original Dawn Exceptional Majestic cake donut mixes. By just adding water, these mixes save you time, provide consistency and simplify your bakery operation.

Dawn also offers technical and promotional support to help grow your business. Whether it’s posters, promotional materials or technical support and service, Dawn provides you the tools to jumpstart year-round flavor, promote your bakery and drive customers to your shop. It’s part of Dawn’s commitment to do more than just provide you with great donut mix.

Specials with a twist

If the pandemic has taught retail bakeries anything, it is that consumers continue to seek out the comforts of foods they know and love. Yet in addition to traditional favorites, they crave bakery specials with a twist. And this trend is particularly noticeable in the donut sector.

Churros are an increasingly popular item for snacking and breakfast, and San Antonio Bakery in Compton, Calif., makes an inventive breakfast dessert that is popular for parties and morning snacking occasions. Churro cheesecake is made by San Antonio Bakery’s talented pastry chef Alondra Roman. She starts with a churro coating that covers the top of the rich cheesecake for a delicious flavor.

“People ask for it all the time,” said the bakery’s owner, Victor Martinez.

At Porto’s Bakery, one of the nation’s largest retail bakeries with six locations in Southern California, a greatly popular breakfast item is Cuban-style French toast known as torrejas. The popular bakery makes torrejas starting with Porto’s signature croissant dough topped with guava sauce and accompanied by whipped cream cheese and tropical fruit salad.

“It’s all about the flavor,” said Adrian Porto, who manages Porto’s newest location in Northridge, Calif., and is the son of co-owner Raul Porto.

Production on J&J Snack Foods’ new ¡Hola! Churros has been expanded to give foodservice operators a steady, reliable supply of a variety of churros for the new year. ¡Hola! Churros fulfill the growing demand by consumers for globally inspired menu items, specifically desserts, that are sharable and hold well for takeout, for delivery or for catering.

“¡Hola! Churros provides operators an easy solution for offering crowd-pleasing snacks and desserts,” said Norma Jean Abbattista, J&J Snack Foods’ senior director of marketing – foodservice. “According to Datassential, churros have grown by 147% in the past four years as a mini-dessert and are the fastest growing dessert overall.”

The new ¡Hola! Churros brand strengthens J&J Snack Foods’ existing position among churro manufacturers by combining the best of two legacy brands. The new brand elevates the options for unique menu applications as an easy to prepare snack, dessert or breakfast item. Available in loops, regular churros and bites, operators can customize the products with a variety of flavors or sweet fillings.

“Snacking occasions continue to grow as sales opportunities between main menu dayparts, and ¡Hola! Churros offer a tremendously easy opportunity,” Abbattista said. “Our churros can be air fried, deep fried, or baked in minutes and can be very creative carriers of flavor with dips, glazes, sprinkles and drizzles added by operators to customize their menu offering.”

Other variations

Retail bakeries are ushering in an entirely new category of breakfast sweets, including donuts, coffee cakes, cinnamon rolls, and more. The chocolate chip coffee cake is a favorite of retail bakeries, now migrating into the supermarket sector.

Jackson Market is a neighborhood market and deli hidden on a residential street in downtown Culver City, Calif., since 1925. Famous for custom deli sandwiches, wraps, and salads, coffee, pastries and breakfast items made fresh daily. Donut specials include specials of the week, including coffee cake and other breakfast pastries.

New York City-based The Doughnut Project is a female-co-founded and operated company that is uplifting spirits in 2023 with unique hand-crafted donut. Owner Leslie Polizzotto had a dream to partner with fun brands while pushing the envelope on what a doughnut can be. Now, taking their cue from trendy food and cocktails that dictate flavors, the company collabs with brands, restaurants, and charitable organizations with weekend specials that are never available again.

The Doughnut Project’s collaboration with candy company HI-CHEW, with blood-orange flavored and colored tangy creations. Their Rosa Mexicano partnership for the Chips ‘n Dip Doughnut, which is inspired by chips and guac made with old-fashioned corn cake, lime glaze, avocado mousse ring, and pineapple pico de gallo with tortilla chips as a garnish.

The Doughnut Project is a hand-crafted, small-batch doughnut shop in the West Village of Manhattan. The shop opened in October of 2015 and takes inspiration from food and cocktails to create their flavors. The shop is known for its collaborations and partnerships with local, national, and international brands where they create custom doughnuts for product launches and events. Every weekend, the shop does Weekend Specials that are available for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday only. Led by Co-founder Leslie Polizzotto, the all-female team’s creativity brings joy to customers from all over the world who visit the not-to-be-missed NYC destination.

HI-CHEW, the immensely fruity, intensely chewy candy and New York City-based The Doughnut Project teamed up for National Candy Month (June) to celebrate the snack holiday in an unexpected way in 2021. Say hello to summer with Strawberry Squeeze, a one-of-a-kind doughnut that highlights the latest HI-CHEW flavor, Strawberry Lemonade.

A new glaze

Dawn Foods unveiled its new Global Bakery Trends Report and announced its latest product innovation, Dawn Exceptional Pak Perfect Non-Sticky Glaze, at last year’s International Baking Industry Exposition.

Showcased at Dawn Foods’ IBIE booth, the patent-pending glaze technology allows for packaged yeast-raised donuts to stay non-sticky for up to five days.

“Dawn’s latest donut innovation provides grocers and manufacturers with a solution that keeps yeast-raised donuts looking great while staying fresh, longer,” said Roja Ergun, director of research & development, Wet Ingredients, Dawn Foods North America. “Our new donut glaze remains intact, non-sticky, and greatly reduces waste and assists with the labor needs of bakeries.”

Consumer feedback has also been positive through Dawn Sensory Testing, 66% of consumers noted they prefer Pak Perfect yeast-raised donuts over traditional glazed donuts.

"Dawn’s latest donut innovation provides grocers and manufacturers with a solution that keeps yeast-raised donuts looking great while staying fresh, longer.”

Roja Ergun, Dawn Foods North America