BOULDER BRONUTS

 

From today's Boulder Daily Camera:

Bronuts enters Boulder doughnut market with 'balls'

 

By Alicia Wallace, Camera Business Writer

 

Two Boulder brothers saw a hole in a local industry and have sought to fill it with some dough and double entendres.

Brett and Mitch Magdovitz launched Bronuts, a Boulder startup that makes a variety of doughnut holes — savory and sweet treats the brothers affectionately refer to as "doughnut balls."

The balls produced at Bronuts — a melding of "brothers" and "doughnuts" — include Bleu Balls, with bleu cheese, blueberry filling and blueberry glaze; Monkey Balls, with banana filling and chocolate glaze; and "South Park"-inspired Chocolate Salty Balls, with salted dulce de leche filling and chocolate glaze.

 

The balls will be sold by the dozen, half-dozen and, "of course," pairs, the Bronuts brothers say, adding they're readying the wholesale business for commercial and online sales and potentially a food trailer
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While the confections' cheekiness may seem appropriate for a Pete Schweddy "Saturday Night Live" skit, it's not all daffy. The brothers business that can seriously contend in a local doughnut industry that has quickly expanded.

"We have a pretty unique product," Mitch said, noting the Bronuts are a hybrid of yeast-raised and cake doughnuts. "Not only is it a baked ball, it's got a very distinctive texture and eating experience."

The brothers' journey to the land of pastries took longer than expected. Brett and Mitch grew up in Tennessee, where they became devotees of Gibson's Donuts, a Memphis staple. Mitch, a self-proclaimed "doughnut connoisseur" and Boulder resident since 1999, said he was sorely disappointed when his new hometown's doughnut options dissolved. After the closures of shops such as Daylight Donuts, Dunkin' Donuts and Tastefully Toasted, Boulder was absent a retail doughnut business from 2007 to 2012. "After I was here, I thought, 'I got to start a doughnut shop,'" he said. "But the timing wasn't right." When the timing became right near the end of 2012, Boulder no longer was doughnut-less. That year, the locally operated Dizzy's Donuts opened a retail shop at 1606 Conestoga Ave. in east Boulder. Earlier this year, Dunkin' Donuts returned to Boulder and opened a location at 3235 28th St. "We're not shooting for gourmet," Brett said. "And we absolutely have no interest in trying to compete with Dunkin' (Donuts)." Eric Guthrie, owner of Dizzy's, said his business is "still rolling along" and also is expanding its wholesale reach.

"We haven't noticed much effect from Dunkin' Donuts, to tell you the truth," he said. "As far as the new wave of doughnuts, I'm kind of surprised for Boulder, but we're still doing our handmade, gourmet, everything-from-scratch (doughnuts)."

The Bronuts bros believe there is room in the market — even one that typically garners accolades for its healthy living — for a business offering some guilty pleasures, including balls in the gluten-free and vegan varieties.

"People love eating sweets," Mitch said. "People (in Boulder) exercise a lot, and they like high-quality food."

Wanting to take a unique approach, the brothers eschewed frying the doughnuts and instead opted to bake their doughy creations.

"The feedback was, 'These doughnuts are good, but the doughnut holes are awesome,'" Brett said.

So the brothers decided to pursue a line of doughnut balls and serve them up under the Bronuts name, and be a little ballsy about the marketing in the process.

After about 18 months of preparing and fine-tuning, Bronuts officially launched earlier this month at BDNT, a startup-focused meetup event.

An Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign is aimed at helping raise money for a mobile bakery. The brothers now are baking out of the Rodeway Inn & Suites Boulder Broker's commercial kitchen trailer.

In the coming weeks, Bronuts will start a bigger push into selling directly to businesses and securing others — such as coffee shops, hotels or car repair shops — to serve as resellers. Bronuts plans to supplement the commercial sales with offering delivery and online sales.

"Our intent is not to offend anyone with the playfulness," Mitch said. "At the same time, we just want people to smile and have fun."