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It’s a new day at the Donut Haven
New owner bans smoking at former all-night shop By Chris Bristol Donut Haven still sells doughnuts, but it’s no longer a haven for smokers and Medford’s denizens of the night. Hoping to stimulate more business by dispelling Donut Haven’s reputation as a hole-in-the-wall dive, new owner Scott Brechtel last month banned smoking inside the establishment and cut back the graveyard-and-Greyhound hours.
"I need customers who are gonna buy a heckuva lot more doughnuts than some guy who wants to sit and have a smoke and nurse a cup of coffee," says Brechtel. "Who wants to buy doughnuts when some guy’s puffing away?" Brechtel bought the doughnut shop at 1173 Court St. a year ago, taking the scary plunge into the fingers-to-the-bone world of small-business ownership. A professional baker since age 16, the 35-year-old Portland native spotted Donut Haven for sale in a trade publication. At the time, he was in sales for a bakery supplier. "I wanted out of the rain, and this seemed like a good opportunity," he says. "It wasn’t perfect, but the money was right and the place had a lot of square-footage." Brechtel soon found out how imperfect it was. Although Donut Haven was the only all-night shop in town, the business had earned a reputation over the years as a smoke-filled dive where Greyhound bus drivers stopped for a stretch and a free cup of coffee. "The drivers brought in paying customers, but the main reason they were coming in was because they could smoke and use the facilities," Brechtel says. "It was like an old truck stop." Medford only has two other doughnut shops: Donut Den (formerly Winchell’s) in the Bear Creek Plaza, and Donut Country, located on East Jackson Street. Neither business looks or feels like a truck stop. To cope, Brechtel has concentrated on wholesale. Mixing 10 to 12 gallons of doughnut dough a day, Donut Haven sells to schools (Southern Oregon University is one of his best clients) and convenience stores, such as the Minute Market chain. But wholesale is less profitable than by-the-doughnut retail. Hoping to stimulate more off-the-street business, Brechtel banned smoking and began closing up the shop at 8 p.m. In addition, he upgraded the counter space to make the service area more friendly. His employees are expected to be courteous and helpful. "I was paranoid, because the old owners made me think that if I made all these big changes that I’d be out of business," he says. "But after running it for a year, I realized I could do it. Now I feel really confident about it." Seeking a more upscale clientele, Brechtel also has added more baked goods to the lineup. He started a line of specialty breads and bakes Danish pastries Friday through Sunday. And he is starting to advertise, with a television commercial planned for filming last Friday. Although the cutback in hours has cost him some late-night business, Brechtel says he hopes to offset the loss by making the freshest doughnuts in town. "Cutting out the night business has been kind of a bite," he says, "but I think it’s gonna pay off in the long run." |
