Funky Town Donuts opened its long-awaited, first brick and mortar store on Eighth Avenue on May 28 and lines have been forming early to indulge in these artisan donut creations. Owners Brandon and Angie Moors, along with Brandon’s mother, Ruth Moors, have been surprised by the reaction.
The modern red building, which also houses a new Jimmy John’s sandwich shop, has been a packed house since it opened. The tiny 600-square-foot space has limited counter seating and is more of a grab-and-go affair. Signage is still to come, so look for the Funky Town banner and park in the back.
“We expected to be busy for our grand opening but what actually happened blew our minds! We never imagined a line wrapped around the building, down to the parking lot. It was incredible,” Brandon Moors said, “Since then, we have sold out every day and have had continued support from our community.” The store opens at 6 a.m. and the rush really heats up around 7:30 a.m
Funky Town’s lavish assortment is both creative and colorful, with yeast and cake-style donuts and even a new gluten-free and vegan donut with limited availability. The made-from-scratch dough is a labor-intensive stand-out feature at Funky Town. Expect fresh fruit glazes made from pureed fruit, and embellishments such as fresh blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, toasted coconut and even bacon.
I arrived early to get my pick of the litter one recent morning and do my due diligence (after all, people are counting on me to get this right).
The tantalizing daily displays are arranged on milk-glass pedestals, noted on the chalkboard outside and arranged on the shiny steel, donut-shaped cut-out on the wall, but you will be sucked in by the donut display itself.
Funky Town’s yeast donuts are chewy yet light. They had a simple cinnamon sugar-dusted version called sopapilla and The Double Stuff, which is a glazed donut topped with crushed Oreo cookies and vanilla icing drizzle with a mini cookies-and-cream chocolate on top. My favorites, however, were the lemon glazed and the Razzle Dazzle with raspberry glaze, dark chocolate drizzle and fresh raspberry decoration. I appreciated the way their refreshing fruit tang brought the sweet factor back down to size.
“We rotate our flavors daily and post them on social media for our customers to see,” Brandon Moors said. “We have new flavors in the mix that you won’t find on our current menu such as “Movie Night” – caramel glaze topped with popcorn and M&M’s with a dark chocolate drizzle; “Nolan Express” – ghost pepper glaze with a mint drizzle; “Cherry Pie” – cherry glaze topped with graham cracker crumbs, fresh whipped cream and a cherry (some of which were created by our staff). We will continue to add in new flavors and will offer seasonals along the way.”
Funky Town offers gluten-free/vegan donuts on Wednesdays and Sundays only, and they have become increasingly popular. I sampled these as well and can report that they are simply delicious and tender. “They are both gluten-free and vegan, and are baked, not fried,” Moors said. “We have to prepare those first thing in the morning before we begin our yeast donuts to avoid the risk of cross-contamination. We are in the process of a vegan-only yeast donut too and will roll that out soon.”
Funky Town plans to give back to the community. You might call the Moorses donut do-gooders. “We will be featuring a purple donut … to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s and plan to have many more offerings like this in the future. For the purple donut, all proceeds will go to the Alzheimer’s Association.”
It has been a long road building their business to this point. For the past year, the Moorses have been taking custom orders and it really helped them work on perfecting recipes and getting the word out. “It has been quite a learning curve and seemed like forever before we finally opened, but overall, we are just thrilled to be here, serving our funky fresh donuts and putting smiles on people’s faces − especially the kids,” Moors said.
FUNKY TOWN DONUTS
1000 8th Ave., Suite 101
www.funkytowndonuts.com
cutline: Funky Town Donuts owners Brandon and Angie Moors