- April 28, 2024
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Former corrections officer Rich Weber and his wife, Karen, opened the Donut Stop at the end of last year.
There was a time when Rich Weber would carry a gun to work, a time when he’d get spit on and screamed at. In his old job, he says he lived each day in a constant state of yellow — as in the caution sign on a traffic light — ready, at any moment, to go green and spring into action. Ready to protect himself and the coworkers he calls “family.”
Weber used to be a correctional officer. But today, after a lot of saving and a lot of planning, he has a safer and more boring life as a baker. He says so smiling, in a polo and jeans, slouched in his chair and surrounded by the scent of caramelized sugar.
For four years, Weber worked in prisons in Cleveland, eventually moving to Flagler County, where he served four more years on the force. But in his new life, he and his wife, Karen, run the Donut Stop, at 500 N. State St., Bunnell.
They’ve been open a little less than two months.
“His personality has definitely changed,” Karen Weber says. When you work in a jail, you have to be forceful and demanding, she added. You don’t ask, you tell. And it’s hard to simply turn that off after clocking 12-hour shifts.
“You still kind of miss it,” Rich Weber admitted. “You miss wearing the uniform. … But it’s been really nice to just — ” He lets out a deep exhale, as if he’s officially letting go. “It was pretty much a life change.”
After surveying the area, the couple chose donuts because, they say, it fulfilled a need. No other place in Bunnell offers daily homemade baked goods.
A year-and-a-half after buying the property, they finished renovations on the 20-year-old former insurance company building. They put in hardwood floors, moved and painted walls, built and tiled a full kitchen and made the store handicap-accessible.
“We ripped it down to the bare walls,” Karen Weber said. Redesign for the 800-square-foot store ran about $8,000, but to the Webers, the money was well spent. It was invested in their dream.
“We really want to make this area nice, really transform it,” she added, referring to the donut property and the rentals the two also own at its back, which they plan to someday fill with other young companies.
“Bunnell could really flourish,” she said.
Every night at midnight, the Webers come to work. They get started, first blending their dough in a mixer so big it has to sit on the floor. Then they cut the mixture into blobs and put it in the proofer, where the blobs rise into donuts. Then the donuts are fried. Then frosted.
“You put out that fresh homemade food, and people notice a difference,” said Rich Weber, who also used to be a sous chef. His wife was a corporate baker. Between them, they have 30 years of restaurant experience.
Lunch and breakfast items are offered, as well — Weber makes fresh chicken salad, soups and “dönwiches,” which are egg or sausage sandwiches on sweet yeast rolls.
They use real apples in their have-to-be-at-least-six-inch-wide apple fritters. They have warm donut pudding, with homemade everything.
All in all, it takes about four hours to ready the store. Then they open for eight hours. After cleaning, the two have worked a 14-hour day, after which they hit the sack at around 4 p.m.
Karen Weber also works from home, doing the billing for an out-of-state’s doctor’s office.
Still, to the Webers, this is the dream. The store is starting to get regulars, they announce excitedly, describing the kids on their way to Bunnell Elementary School who press their faces on the glass. And whenever they hear a customer refer to their store as “our donut shop,” they can’t help but smile.
The Webers work long days, but work them together. And on their off time, they relax with their pets and talk with their kids. They get comfortable.
But then, just about when most of us are going to bed, their alarm clock sounds. It’s almost midnight.
And it’s time to make the donuts.
The Donut Stop is open every weekday, from 5:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. For more, call 263-2958.
