Archive for February 2010
Getting a Business License and Other Chores before Starting Your doughnut business
February 17, 2010 | 
Author Setting up your business can be an overwhelming task at first. You are excited about your idea and you know that you can make a lot of money. There are only a couple of things that stand in your way. Hopefully, you have your business and operations plan ready to implement. You are aware of your market and projected revenues. Now all you have to deal with are the state and local governments, and comply with their standards.
The first thing you will need to do is register your business with your state government. Most of the time you will find this information online. It is a good idea to classify your business as an LLC ( limited liability company) and not as a sole proprietorship. After you register your business with the state, You'll need to get a food handlers permit and a business permit from your local government. Again, your state's government webpage will point you in the direction of where to go and what forms to fill out.
After you have your food handlers permit and business permit, you will need to apply for a federal ID number. You can go to IRS.gov to apply for the ID number. You'll use this number to report the income that your company makes. You will want to record all revenue and expenses that you incur as related to your business. This will also help you on your personal taxes.
After you have your federal ID number for your doughnut business, you will need to register with the state's employment office if you intend on having employees. You will need to record each employee that you intend on hiring with the state. It is always a good idea to be certain you are within the law when you hire employees. It is a hassle, but worth it in the end, so that you may sleep at night knowing that all your employees are legal. Having your company an LLC, will give you some level of protection as well, in case you are sued.
Once you have registered with state, local, and the federal government, you are pretty much ready to start selling doughnuts. All you need to do is market the product. But you have already taken care of this in your business plan, so you know exactly how you are going to market your donut business. Being organized when starting a business is never a bad idea. Also being compliant with federal state and local laws will help you sleep at night. The doughnut business can be very profitable, but if you do not play the game correctly, you can end up owing a lot in fines and penaltiesTo the government, because you did not pay the appropriate taxes on your business. Be smart and get off to a good start.
Posted in Business Plans, New Business | 
Tags: business plan, employees, federal id number, projected revenues | 
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Finding the Right Location for Your Donut Business
It is a very important component of any business, but especially for the donut business.... the business needs to be where the people are gathered. This is no different with the doughnut business. There are many places you can set up shop, anywhere from flea markets to mall locations. Of course the location you choose will often depend on how much money you are willing to spend on securing your desired location.
Carnivals and other outdoor activities are an ideal place to sell doughnuts. Also, any place where a large crowd has gathered. If you can locate your doughnut shop near a football, basketball or other outdoor activity, you will well be on your way to getting consistent revenue. If you have a lot of traffic, chances are real good that you will be able to sell your mini doughnuts. People just cannot resist the smell and taste of these delicacies. Carnivals and outdoor activities are easy to set up, easy to manage any overhead is very low. You may want to get a trailer or simply setup your doughnut fryer on a secure table. There are many manufacturers that will sell doughnut or concession equipment to you. It is not difficult to find equipment for the donut business.
Of course we are speaking about setting up our will allAnd in and in and in and indonut business at carnivals or other places where outdoor activities are held, but you may be interested in a stand-alone building. This would be a huge undertaking and the help of a franchise would help you get your feet wet in the donut business. There are advantages to standalone donut shops, but the overhead is a lot more than if you simply sell your doughnuts at carnivals, flea markets or other outdoor activities. The goal is to not have a huge amount of overhead when you first start out.
Another way you can get your doughnuts out to the public would be to offer them to churches, or other religious groups. You can market to churches, perhaps split the profits with them, and get the word out about your delicious doughnuts. Churches are an excellent avenue to sell your doughnuts. Word can spread fast when your doughnuts are exposed even to just one religious organization. If you got big enough you could even and lest someone to do your marketing for you, while you are location helping sell the doughnuts.
Location, location, location, as you know, in business it is very important. It is no exception with a doughnut business. If you have a good location, market your doughnut business with precision, you'll will be on your way to increased profits.
Testing Donut Recipe Video
Below is our first test of the Lil Orbits Donut Recipe, something we are considering going with.... The video is not the best quality but wanted to give everyone an idea of what we are up to... Bob recorded the video with his iphone... using a tool called qik.com Really pretty cool..... We are going to do the taste test again and record it, this time a little better quality. We weren't really prepared for this taste test, next time we will be. Thanks for all the comments, 
We are slowly but surely getting this off the ground.... The video is about 10 minutes in length... thanks for all the nice emails we have received about the blog, it has been awhile in the making....
Posted in donut recipes | Tags: donut recipe, doughnut recipe, lil orbits, taste test | No Comments »
Donut Recipes – Trying Out Samples
My business partners and I experimented with a donut making sample kit today, and as promised in a previous blog entry I want to tell you about it. Actually, you're going to get an individual perspective from each of us as we probably all had different reactions, concerns, and thoughts on the process. From Lil Orbits we received a package of dry mix, a container of partially hydrogenated soybean oil (meaning that it was firm and not a liquid), a dispenser, written instructions and an instructional DVD.
We broke up the tasks in making the donuts to make the process go faster. I measured out the mix and added the appropriate amount of water. No milk or eggs were required thank goodness. The first thing I noted was that the batter mixed up very quickly and smoothly. I've made several box cakes in my day from Betty C. and Duncan H., and I always seem to be stuck with lumps. I hate using mixers so I always use a whisk--old fashioned and time consuming I know but it's my way. Lumps are a pain to get out, but with this mix there were none! In less than a minute of whisking the batter was ready and smooth as pudding. And it smelled great, like cake batter! Yum!
That was the good part. The bad part that I learned later was that the longer the batter sat the thicker it got. This made it more difficult to squeeze through the dispenser and caused the batter to come out in very odd shapes. Sometimes we got a round donut, sometimes an octopus, sometimes a hush puppy, and sometimes an amoeba. Who knew making donuts for the first time would be so creative! Keep in mind that with Lil Orbits equipment the process is automated so that the donuts come out perfect every time. The dispenser was just for people like us interested in doing it by hand. The taste was the more important variable than looks at this point.
Once the batter was dropped into the fry daddy of Lil Orbit soybean oil it cooked rapidly. Per instructions 20 seconds was recommended for each side and that was about right. The oil was heated to between 350 and 400 degrees, so it didn't take long for the donuts to turn golden brown. They were moist without being greasy. We sprinkled a mix of cinnamon and sugar on them and set them aside to cool.
So let's talk about the taste. OMG! Incredible! Maybe it was the thrill of making them ourselves, or the fact that they were fresh and hot, or maybe it was because we hadn't eaten breakfast yet, but those things were good! They were technically bite sized, but so that I didn't look like too much of a pig I finished each one in two. That also let me note the texture on the inside which was different from a traditional fried or cake donut. The consistency was a combination between the two.
Next, just for funsies, we sampled some store bought products. The first were traditional fried donut holes and the second were powdered Dolly Madison versions out of a wrapper. There was no comparison between those and what we'd made. Ours were way, way, way, way better. Imagine the difference between a hot dog and a filet mignon--yeah it was like that. What I kept thinking was 'These things will sell like hotcakes!' Once a customer tastes these gems they won't willingly go back to Dolly. No, they will search us out for more.
Again, we decided to experiment. I cooked the next batch of donuts in Crisco All Natural Pure Vegetable Oil. I'm a food label reader, so I did some comparing. They had exactly the same number of calories per serving and surprisingly the Lil Orbits oil had slightly less saturated fat (the bad kind). Neither oil is artery friendly, but the Crisco was a bit worse. There was a flavor difference between the two batches. The Crisco donuts were greasier and not as tasty. When I read the Lil Orbits container I noted that the product was specially formulated for a "less greasy donut." Ahhhh...so that's why there was a difference. Hard to argue with the taste results though.
We're not done with our experimenting and will keep you savvy readers on the edge of your seats with our exploits. Or maybe we'll just keep dropping batter in the fry daddy looking for cool shapes. I'm going to try making a star fish next week. Stay tuned.
