Its regular customers already say Mr. T’s is the best doughnut shop in Modesto. Now they can say it’s among the best in the nation.
In recognition of National Doughnut Day, which was Friday, Business Insider rounded up the top 15 shops in the U.S. – from Maine to Texas, New York to California. Mr. T’s, which is in the Frontier Village shopping center on the northwest corner of Tully Road and Standiford Avenue, ranked 13th.
The summary of Mr. T’s Delicate Donut that runs with the story reads: “This donut shop is open round the clock but still manages to have queues of people waiting for its gourmet donuts. Prices are reasonable and there is plenty of styles to choose from, including cronuts, their version of the croissant-donut combo.”
Employee Tara Morales said Monday morning that she’d heard about the No. 13 ranking, “which is really good!”
But customer Vivian Fergel, being rung up at the counter, overheard and said, “You should be No. 1, because there’s no other doughnuts that are better. Seriously. There’s other places I’ve gone, and my stomach gets like, oh, my God, why did I eat that? Not here.”
Fergal said she’s not a frequent customer because she doesn’t make doughnuts a regular part of her diet. She goes to the bakery on special occasions, and Monday was her husband’s birthday. She’d heard about the Business Insider story and thought it was great Mr. T’s got the recognition. “If we’re happy where we eat, we should tell people.”
Business Insider teamed up with city-guide app Foursquare to find the top-rated doughnut shops. Foursquare based its rankings – the full list is of the top 50 shops – on customers’ ratings, as well as the number of times users “liked” or “saved” the doughnut shops.
Mr. T’s was in some big-city company in the top 15, with shops in New York City, Atlanta, New Orleans and Chicago.
Top spot went to a place in Brooklyn with a simple name – Dough – but exotic tastes. “Stop by Dough for a little taste of Latin American culture and tradition in your daily doughnut run,” Business Insider says. “Tropical fruits and traditional Latin American staples inspire the year-round Dough flavors, which include passion fruit, hibiscus, and dulce de leche.”
Mr. T’s, which opened in 1989 and is open 24 hours, had dozens of varieties in its display cases at 6 a.m. Monday, with others – including cronuts – coming a short time later in the morning.
Morales said she didn’t know exactly how many different doughnuts the shop makes – “There’s so many of them, I can’t even estimate” – or how many are sold on an average day. “We don’t keep track” because staff always is making more and restocking the racks and cases, she said.
A few things Morales shared:
▪ The 8 a.m. hour is typically the busiest time of day, as people buy doughnuts to share with co-workers.
▪ Fridays through Sundays are the busiest of the week. Some of those sales are to people enjoying them in after-church gatherings.
▪ The top seller is the raised, glazed doughnut, followed by any of the cake doughnuts with sprinkles.
▪ The most recent additions to Mr. T’s lineup are the cronuts and the chocolate bars and maple bars topped with bacon crumbles.
Longtime regular customer Julia Washington is among those who love the bacon-topped maple bar. “It’s sooo good,” she said. “You know why theirs is better than others? Some places do a strip of bacon, but they (Mr. T’s) actually do the bacon bits, so you’re not fighting to break the bacon in your mouth.”
Deke Farrow: 209-578-2327
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