Nottingham's doughnuts supremo Doughnotts is gearing up to open a new site at one of the region's busiest shopping outlets. The sweet treats will be sold from a kiosk at East Midlands Designer Outlet just over the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border in South Normanton.
With production hitting around 20,000 each week it seems customers have not lost their love for the handmade doughnuts despite rising costs forcing a price increase to £2.50 for standard and £3.50 for premium.
The new kiosk, just outside the Food Court, will open on Friday, July 15, at 9am with competitions and giveaways including merchandise and vouchers. Doughnuts will be on sale seven days a week from 9am to 9pm.
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Sweet-toothed customers can indulge in Red Velvet, Bueno, Cherry Bakewell, Twixy Business, a Twix submerged in caramel, and Weekend Billionaire, a chocolate, caramel and shortbread combo. And there's plenty of vegan staples such as Oreo and Biscoff and specials, too.
Co-founder Wade Smith said: "We are buzzing about it. We were in talks a couple of years ago but we weren't a seven-day operation at that time. The opportunity arose and it's a good option for us. There will be 18 flavours and probably 65-70 percent are vegan."
The company has shops in Nottingham city centre, Beeston, Lincoln and Leicester selling the generously-sized treats. It also offers nationwide delivery so Scottish and Welsh doughnut lovers can have a box arrive on their doorstop.
Another kiosk will be opening at Birmingham's Bullring shopping centre by the end of the year. Like every other business in hospitality the impact of Covid and rising costs - including a £35,000 energy bill - has forced Doughnotts to pass on the increase to customers.
Wade said: "It's a very different climate. We've had to adapt so much of the business. It has been harder. Every single business you speak to in hospitality has said the same. We had to put a little bit on the price on our doughnuts. We buy raw ingredients and make everything from scratch.
"You can walk into Costa and buy a brownie and pay about £3 and no one bats an eyelid... it's because of the brand. People don't understand that smaller independent businesses like us have to work so much harder to compete with these big companies but our product is a lot better and better value for money.
"You're facing rising costs so you're forced to increase the price of the product, that then puts people off as they're so used to paying your price point, so that then means you have less customers. It's just a vicious circle.
"It's not all negative. We still love it and we're growing. We're doing OK but we were doing better before. I think that's what forcing us to grow. If we can do that now, then one day people's spending habits will be different and it will get back to normal."
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