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Ottawa-area business Tom’s and Sons Donuts focuses
on wholesale.
By Mali Rolph
It is said that a family that plays together, stays
together. Well how about one that also works together?
Tom’s and Sons Donuts in Nepean, Ont., is owned and operated
by Tom De Dominicis. Like the name suggests, he works
alongside his son, Enio churning out fresh doughnuts and
other pastries in the Ottawa area. Tom’s daughter, Lidia,
does the accounting, book keeping and ordering, while her
husband Jon designed and updates the company web site. Tom’s
wife even comes in to help out with the baking duties if
things get a little hectic.
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 Each
member of the family will probably tell you that they make
the best doughnuts in the Ottawa area. Their specialty is
the huge, soft, fresh apple fritters that are the size of an
outstretched hand.
“The fritters are our bread and butter,” says Enio, who
confidently invites anyone to compare their doughnuts to any
other on the market.
Enio says one of the things that makes their doughnuts so
tasty is the oil. They use 100 per cent vegetable oil
shortening and spend about $30 for each 20 kg box.
They also use Dawn Food Doughnut mix for the batter. They
used to use a competing brand, but say they switched after
the mix was changed and didn’t produce the same result.
But a bigger change for the De Dominicis family involved
more than just the batter. Almost two years ago, Tom’s
Donuts shifted their business focus from retail to
wholesale. They decided to close down their 12-year-old
eat-in or take-out coffee shop located in Kanata when a
proposed non-smoking by-law threatened the success of the
business. Because many of his customers naturally lit up a
cigarette with their doughnut and coffee, Tom decided to
jump ship before it was too late.
Since August of 2002, the company has operated out of a
small 1,000 square foot space tucked away in an industrial
area of Nepean. There are no counters, tables, chairs or
coffee pots.
Instead, the new digs feature the typical equipment for any
wholesale doughnut operation; a couple of mixers, two ovens,
a proofer and the all-important fryer. But when you walk
through the main windowless door in the back of one of the
strip mall buildings, the smell is what you notice first.
The air is thick with the heavy scent of oil, batter, and
sugar.
“You may be able to smell us, but you can’t find us,” jokes
Enio, as he moves some of the doughnut trays around. “We’re
still tinkering around with how things are set up. On
average Tom’s pumps out 1,500 doughnuts per night and
delivers them in the wee hours of the morning. Hasty Mart,
the cafeterias on Parliament Hill, some grocery stores and a
mom-and-pop style deli chain called Marcello’s are examples
of places where you can find Tom’s doughnuts.
Making 40 to 50 deliveries per day keeps the 61-year-old Tom
trim and fit. That’s a good thing considering Tom admits to
eating at least one, if not two of his doughnuts per day.
“I never get sick of them,” he says of the apple fritters
which are his favourite.
Tom has been in the baking business for over 25 years. He
and his brother bought a cake and pastry shop in Montreal
1974, making their products from scratch. They eventually
sold that business and Tom pursued a position with Canter
Bakery in Montreal. When that company opened a location in
Ottawa two years later, Tom followed and was the foreman of
the factory for another two years. Eventually the threat of
a union shut the bakery down. Tom and his wife with three
children didn’t want to leave the Ottawa area, so after a
couple of years doing odd jobs, Tom decided to focus on what
he did best – making doughnuts. That’s when he opened the
Kanata doughnut shop.
Aside from apple fritters, Tom’s Donuts produces about 36
varieties of doughnuts. They also produce a wide selection
of muffins and ‘sweet bites’ doughnut holes. The average
charge for a dozen doughnuts is about $6 to their wholesale
customers. Occasionally they have the odd loyal customer
from the Kanata coffee shop who will call ahead to pick up a
box of Tom’s donuts and drop by to say ‘hi.’
And while Enio admits that he misses getting to know a lot
of the customers who would come in and chat over coffee, he
says the new business focus keeps him busy enough. Tom adds
they are especially busy during the winter season because
many people use doughnuts as comfort food.
Lidia is quick to add that while business usually slows
during the holiday season, this year it didn’t. It’s a
surprising result considering the negative impact the Atkins
diet trends have had on some segments of the baking
industry.
But Tom is confident the trend won’t last and people will
continue to pair their morning coffee with a fresh doughnut.
“By March, most people kick their diets.”
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