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With Twice the Dough, Parkites bite into a pastry passion

Shannon Buist was a little bit skeptical.

Her husband, a lover of sweet treats, wanted to open a doughnut shop in Park City. She was game, on one condition: The doughnuts had to be made of all-natural ingredients so they could feed them to their two daughters. But still, she wondered whether others in town were quite as passionate about the fried pastries as her husband.

Their doughnut shop, Twice the Dough, opened earlier this month. And any doubt Buist had has vanished. Nearly every day, customers scoop up nearly all of the the 400 or 500 doughnuts the bakery makes fresh daily. Often, the shop sells out by noon.

"I can’t believe how many people in Park City love doughnuts," Buist said. "I am shocked by the amount of people. My husband has always loved doughnuts and he was right about how much other people love them, too. He said people were going to crazy over this place, and they have."

Twice the Dough gives doughnut lovers plenty to get excited about. The shop offers several kinds, from the lemon-filled When Life Gives You Lemons to Just One More Chai, which features a chai tea glaze with a dash of cinnamon. And Buist intends to swap out two flavors every month to try out new concoctions.

"We have a whole bunch of things on the backburner, like a peanut butter and jelly one that’s delicious," she said. "So many people love trying new ones. It’s interesting because everyone has their favorite doughnuts. So you have people who prefer just the regular vanilla doughnut, then you have people who love all the fancier stuff, too. We want to have something for everyone."

The ingredients are what make each doughnut special, Buist said. Each is 100-percent natural, whereas most store-bought doughnuts are made with preservatives and artificial flavoring. The shop even boasts two gluten-free and one vegan offering.

The homemade taste is something Buist takes pride in. She describes them as the type of treat you can eat with coffee in the morning, but can also bring to dinner at a friend’s house.

"If you’re going to have a treat, might as well have it good — real sugar, real cream, real eggs," Buist said. "That’s kind of how we came up with the whole thing. It tastes like your grandma baked them. It just tastes real and flavorful, like it’s not just sugar. When you have even the plain vanilla, you can taste and see the vanilla bean in it. They just have a richer, lighter, fluffier taste."

Buist added that the all-natural philosophy sets Twice the Dough apart from other doughnut shops. Buist used some of the shops that litter areas such as Newport Beach, California, for inspiration but wanted to create something truly unique.

"We wanted to do our own thing," she said. "We weren’t trying to copy anybody — we just had a vision of what we wanted to create, and we went for that vision. And it feels good to be doing something good, giving people more healthy treats."

Making homemade-style doughnuts is not easy, however. Buist and her staff arrive at the shop at 4 a.m., and the next few hours are a mad rush to get enough doughnuts made, with everyone frantically doing their part to ensure hungry customers will not be disappointed when the doors open for business. Buist, who has never owned a bakery before, said it’s a "high-stress" environment and that the learning curve has been steep.

"Every day gets better, and every day we get more streamlined," she said. "And our staff works really hard to make it better every day. We’re like a family here, and we all love what we’re doing."

The result has been worth it. Buist said Twice the Dough is well on its way to becoming a Park City destination, a place Parkites and tourists alike love to visit.

"We love our locals — we believe in buying local and staying local — so that’s definitely a priority," she said. "But this is also a cool place for tourists to come. We think this is for everyone. Doughnuts make people happy, and we just want people to be happy."

Twice the Dough

1400 Snow Creek Drive

twicethedough.com


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