Don’t you love donuts

Getting creative is nothing new to Goldie’s owner Brad Magg. Saturday, he tried out is latest idea of a Pop Up Donut Shop and the response was nothing short of spectacular.

“Ever since I was a kid and starting selling baked goods in fourth grade, I’ve always been overwhelmed by the community support that I’ve been given,” Magg said. “The fact that multiple people trusted a fourteen year-old to cater their wedding when I started my catering business has always meant so much to me, but yesterday took it to a whole new level. Words can’t describe my appreciation, and heartwarming is an understatement.”

For hours, vehicles lined the streets of Prairie City waiting their turn for donut goodies. Advertised to open from 7:30 to 11 a.m., cars waited up to three hours for the donuts as Magg and his staff continuously churned out dozen after dozen from a stress purchase he made.

“I used to be bad about going shopping when I was stressed about business and money matters,” Magg said. “Well, the second week after everything with COVID-19 starting getting very serious and a little dire, and I wasn’t able to get together with colleagues at the end of a stressful day, I relapsed on a restaurant auction website. A very old donut robot was one of the purchases.”

After the equipment arrived, Magg decided to try it out before putting back on sale.

“I figured I might as well play with it, and make sure it works since I already have it. It did work, and surprisingly well, so I thought it would be a fun and an easy way to try and get a little revenue since the rest of the Goldie’s building was torn apart while we were putting insulation in the walls and fixing the dining room ceiling issues,” Magg said.

His original vision was to try and find an old donut recipe that had a family or community connection, but after talking with family friends and making a social media request, he realized old family donut recipes aren’t really a thing. He took to versions he found in cookbooks and online and after some trial and error and a little help from a friend who had connections with a donut supply company, the donuts were something he could be proud of.

Thursday he decided to take a chance and try to sell warm donuts at a pop up Saturday and Sunday. Little did he know the response he would get.

“With only a day and a half notice, I didn’t think it would amount to much but that’s always nice when you really don’t know what your doing,” Magg said. “I asked a couple employees that were going as stir crazy as me to help and we’d set up in the little drive up area and we’d have fun selling some warm donuts.”

When the first donuts coming out at about 7:15 a.m., Magg glance out the window and realized he couldn’t see the end of the line of cars. Word had got out that he was serving up the breakfast treat, offered with vanilla frosting with our without sprinkles or shaken in cinnamon sugar, and everyone wanted their chance to taste.

“When it started getting social media traction of Friday I started getting a little concerned. It was too late to get anymore donut mix, but I still thought I was getting carried away. Watching other restaurants and their take out success, I was concerned if it was too popular we might not be able to transact fast enough and I didn’t want people waiting in line for an hour and getting mad,” Magg said. “The average wait was three hours and the poor donut robot never stopped and couldn’t make donuts fast enough. The donuts were so hot they were melting the carryout containers. The positive side of the equipment not being able to make donuts fast enough was that I got to visit with almost every customer and it truly warmed my heart being able to interact with so many wonderful people that I haven’t seen since we closed.”

The mix ran out at about 11 a.m. but that didn’t stop Magg. He started using a recipe Marcia Rorabaugh shared from her mother to keep the donuts coming. Eventually, all supplies started to run out and he had to find a stopping point among the crowd.

“We finally had to go out and stand behind the last car in order to establish a cut off,” Magg said. “It pained me to have to start limiting people to two dozen per car but I also couldn’t bear the thought of telling people they couldn’t have any donuts at all.”

After a busy day and supplies depleted, Magg made the decision the donut pop up would turn into a one day venture with Sunday’s donuts having been dished out already. He did add a second donut day April 26 from 8 a.m until noon where he “won’t turn away any customers as long as we can help it.” He also shared an exciting announcement for Goldie’s fans.

“After that I’m retiring from the donut business and we’ll focus on doing what we do best, ice cream and tenderloins. However since we’re getting things put back at the restaurant, we will be opening the drive thru on Saturday the 25th to offer tenderloins and a few sides only starting at 11 a.m.,” Magg said. “We’ll have 500 tenderloins and when they’re gone they’re gone. Sorry, no call ahead orders. On Sunday afternoon after our last donut pop up, we will be open for limited ice cream from 3 to 8 p.m., or whenever the cars stop.”

With the donut business a busy, yet successful venture, Magg cited a comment from Prairie City resident Linda Frazier on a photo of cars lined up to get to Goldie’s as a great way to sum up the day.

“I think this photo proves three things: 1. Cooped up people are missing their eating options. 2. Our community loves Brad and his Goldie’s restaurant and want to support him during these difficult times. 3. People aren’t in much of a hurry these days,” Frazier said.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com