Donut Bar is expected to franchise
KRISTA PINYAN | CONTRIBUTOR |
Photo Courtesy of TinoMC/ Flickr CC
Owner Santiago Campa gives warm smiles and donuts to his loyal customers.
Donut Bar has been listed as the number one donut shop by USA Today, Thrillist, MSN, and many other nationally-acclaimed news organizations and blogs. Donut Bar is located in Downtown San Diego and will soon be selling more than just their nationally-recognized doughnuts.
Donut Bar was initially opened by husband and wife Santiago Campa and Wendy Bartels, two California natives, who decided to leave their motorcycle business behind to start their doughnut shop.
Currently, Donut Bar has three locations. The original location opened in San Diego’s downtown neighborhood in March of 2013. The second location is in San Diego’s International Airport inside terminal 2. The newest one is in the heart of Downtown Las Vegas. The owner, Santiago Campa, announced his plans to franchise the store to as many as 20 new locations over the next three years.
Donut Bar is known for its delicious doughnuts, with unique flavor combinations including Pop-Tart, apple fritter, and maple bacon.
Some say this will be a great pairing for the doughnuts.
Santiago Campa spoke to The San Diego Tribune about his plans for business.
“There’s a hipster kind of feel to getting your doughnut and your beer,” Campa said.
Surprisingly enough, doughnuts and beer go together. Last year we did 15 to 20 night openings in the summer, and whenever we’d announce that opening, they would flock.”
Senior Katie Bubnack shared her thoughts on the expanding menu.
“I think that once people start having beers, they will end up craving a donut, which in result drives up more sales,” Bubnack said.
Bubnack believes that Donut Bar should implement a nightly happy-hour.
“I know that if my friends and I go out for craft beer at Donut Bar, we will most likely purchase a donut to go with it,” Bubnak says.
Bubnack and her friends may not hesitate to pair their doughnut with a beer, but senior Jamie Bouras plans to visit Donut Bar for doughnuts alone.
“We already have so many craft beer places in San Diego,” Bouras says. “It’s not that I don’t like craft beer but I already feel guilty about eating a donut due to its high number of calories. I feel like if I pair a beer with a donut, I will end up feeling sick”.
Obesity is known to be a widespread problem in the United States, and those who acknowledge the obesity problem in the US believe that pairing a beer with a doughnut will only make the obesity epidemic worsen.
According to The San Diego Union Tribune, the plan is to continue to open the store early in the morning and remain open until 11 a.m.
Additionally, Donut Bar would then reopen around 5 or 6 p.m. and close around midnight or 1 a.m.
The owners are in the process of finalizing the paperwork and hope to start franchising next month.
Campa and Bartels are estimating buildout costs for each location to be around $200,000, with a franchising fee of about $25,000 to $40,000.
Due to their plans to now sell craft beer, Campa expects to spend up to $250,000 on the expansion of his current Donut Bar.
Senior Lauren Gutierrez believes that the Donut Bar’s franchising is a great idea.
“Every time I have visited, the line is out the door,” Gutierrez said. “Given its huge popularity and many positive reviews from celebrities, like Ellen DeGeneres, I am confident that this will be great business for the owners.”
Donut Bar plans to franchise in as many as 20 new locations, which Campa has dubbed destination cities. Donut Bar has already been “voted as America’s best Donut Shop” by Thrillist, and therefore has the potential to become America’s best place for craft beer.
The continued success of Donut Bar can be attributed to the patrons that have been loyal since it’s beginning in 2013, including many Toreros.