Dollars to Doughnuts

Doughnut Plant Outside Last week I was in Manhattan for a few days. After catching this episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay, I decided to head over to a place called The Doughnut Plant NYC. In the episode, two NYC cops declared Mark Israel, owner of the Doughnut Plant, the winner. Just that fact that Flay went up against him means he makes some good doughnuts, so I wanted to see for myself.

To be sure, you have to be a little used to New York to appreciate the shop. Much like everywhere else in the city, space is limited. This is no suburban Tim Hortons with room to sit an relax. Nor is the restaurant perfectly clean-looking. Since I have been to New York many times and tried my share of hole-in-the-wall eateries, I was prepared.

What I was not prepared for, however, is just how delicious the doughnuts would be! These are organic, or at least semi organic doughnuts. Mark uses no processed foods and only the freshest ingredients. The filled doughnuts are square, he says, to ensure filling in every bite. It works! I tried a standard jelly filled doughnut and got filling in every bite. The texture was very light and the vanilla bean glaze was amazing. I washed it down with a glass of fresh squeezed Orangeade.

The total cost of my snack? $5.90. Doughnuts range from $2-3, more than twice the local average.

This doughnut shop reinforces my many other posts on pricing. Why cut prices when you can build a sustainable competitive advantage? Be awesome and charge what you are worth. This is true in products and services.

One other tip I learned while eating my doughnut. A certain parcel delivery person came into the shop, asked for a doughnut, and left without paying. I asked the clerk about it, and he said “I give him doughnuts, he brings us important packages first!”

Mike Freeman
Doughnut Connoisseur