As soon as you enter 701 Belmont Ave, the smell of freshly brewed coffee and piping hot doughnuts fills your lungs with each delicious breath, as your eyes scan the counter to see what kinds of new creations doughnut mastermind, Mark Brown, has come up with this month.
The shop opened on Nov. 23, 2019, and has been on the rise ever since.
“We explore the ingredients that go into it … how can we get it to the purest form,” said Brown, one of the owners of the doughnut shop and the culinary voice behind their pastry inventions.
Brown is more concentrated on creating quality over quantity, by looking at each ingredient closely to ensure high-quality gourmet doughnuts are made.
When asked about being compared to other doughnut shops, like Canadian favourite Tim Hortons, Brown said it’s the effort and thought that’s put into something that makes it gourmet, not just adding a little extra icing.
Sorry Tim Horton’s dream line doughnuts.
“It’s like putting lipstick on a pig,” he said.
The newly opened shop has been producing about 25 batches of doughnuts every week, and with one batch weighing in at 52 pounds, that’s almost the weight of a Smart Car in doughnuts every week.
“On Valentine’s Day alone we sold 1,908 doughnuts,” he said.
But what happens to the left over doughnuts? The ones that just don’t make it into people’s hands? Or where does the extra dough go?
According to Brown, Lady Glaze Doughnuts works to be as zero waste as possible, which means finding every part of the doughnut a purpose.
“We do weekly donations to food banks and use the scraps of extra dough for other items like apple fritters,” said Brown.
Another twist to the shop? They are fully liquor licensed.
Brown said they are hoping to tap more into the beverage side of things in the summer when they can offer more savoury options that will pair well with a beer or cocktail.
“It allows us to express our creativity through doughnuts which I think is an awesome part of the job,” said employee, Emma Bousfield.
Creativity and attention to detail is a key aspect of working there, as every doughnut are created with the utmost care and craftsmanship.
“One of our bakers starts at 2 a.m. to get the store ready for the day,” said Rachel Roigrok, a fellow employee.
Lady Glaze Doughnuts is open Monday through Sunday, from 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.
