Entertainment > Dining

Posted on Fri, Jan. 23, 2009

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THE DONUT WHOLE

The newly opened Donut Whole has been blitzed by customers.

BY DENISE NEIL

The Wichita Eagle

Michael Carmody knew he was on to something when he thought up The Donut Whole -- a new hipster doughnut shop that specializes in Kool Aid-coated and bacon-sprinkled confections.

He just underestimated how quickly Wichita would agree.

After weeks of anticipatory buzz, Carmody and his partner Angela Etter opened The Donut Whole in early January at 1720 E. Douglas.

The shop -- spacious and funky and decorated with Joyland remnants and eBay treasures (framed Colonel Sanders portrait, anyone?) --offers a full coffee bar and a menu of off-the-wall cake doughnuts, including the already famous maple bacon. (Other flavors include fruity pebble, cherry cordial, root beer float, cookies and cream and creamy orange.)

Carmody and Etter were hoping for what the restaurant business calls a "soft opening" -- a few intentionally slow, non-publicized weeks of operation during which employees could work out any unanticipated kinks.

Instead, they were immediately slammed with excited crowds and were unable to keep up with the demand.

After a few weeks marked by a never-ending stream of customers and a struggle to perfect the complicated process of making hundreds of dozens of doughnuts a day, things are calming down.

Carmody and Etter and their staff of 20 have added a second shift of doughnut making, and the store is stocked more often. The exhausted pair promises increased output in coming weeks. (But for now, the best time to get doughnuts is between 6 and 8 a.m. and after 2 p.m.)

"These are all good problems to have, I guess," Carmody said.

The idea for The Donut Whole started forming in Carmody's mind years ago. He's always hated office work and loved to bake. The idea of being a self-employed doughnut maker always appealed to him.

"My version of running away and joining the circus was I'd open a doughnut shop," he said.

He started by buying a doughnut dropper on eBay and frying up test batches at his house. As word of his doughnut-dropping prowess spread, he developed a list of 170 friends he'd text message, some of whom would rush over to sample his latest experiment.

Once he teamed up with Etter -- a longtime acquaintance with a good head for business -- he stopped dreaming and started shopping for locations.

The spot they found was perfect, Carmody said. It offered plenty of parking, a spot for a drive-through window and proximity to downtown office workers to the west and East High students (and College Hill) to the east. Plus, Carmody -- one of Wichita's best-known hipsters -- could probably fill the shop each day just with people he knows.

The Donut Whole also offers free WiFi, a stage that will soon feature acoustic music, and a hallway dedicated to artwork. The doughnuts cost between $8 and $12 a dozen.

If you go

What: New doughnut shop and coffeehouse at 1720 E. Douglas, 316-262-3700

On the menu: Basic and offbeat-flavored cake doughnuts, full espresso bar and sodas, Wi-Fi

Hours: The shop is open from 6 a.m. to midnight Mondays through Saturdays throughout January then seven days a week starting in February. The drive-through is open 24 hours.

Grand opening: The Donut Whole's official grand opening will be on Final Friday -- Jan. 30 -- and will include live acoustic music and a display of doughnut-themed art.

For more information, visit www.donutwhole.com/