Plant City’s not-so-secret donut shops have been creating the pillowy treats for more than two decades.
Americans now know what Plant City residents have known for years: when it comes to the tastiest donuts in the U.S., Hole in One Donuts’ pillowy-soft, delicious confections are the best of the best. Yelp, a popular online director for discovering local businesses, has ranked the top 100 donut makers, based on reviews by the Yelp community, and Hole in One Donuts has glazed its way into the number 60 spot.
Hole in One Donuts has two locations in Plant City: 410 North Alexander Street and 1707 James L. Redman Parkway.
While many of the top spots went to donut shops that push the envelope by creating donuts with a gourmet flair, adding expensive ingredients like Valrhona chocolate or Maldon sea salt, the owners of Hole in One donuts forgo the fru-fru and just create large, sweet, simple donuts that melt in your mouth.
A testament to its success is the lines of customers that sometimes spill out the front doors.
Customer and Lakeland resident Penn Pixley is a member of a Tuesday morning breakfast club. The Lakeland Hole in One Donuts location was closed for the week so he and his group made the trip to Plant City for his weekly donut fix. “I always get an apple fritter, they’re delicious,” he said.
They’re also a labor of love. Sam Kan and Judy Pum, the owners of the North Alexander Street location, start their workday at 2 a.m., mixing and working the dough to create tasty donuts, fritters, muffins, turnovers, cinnamon rolls and infamous donut holes. Kan works hard in the kitchen every day until about 8:30 a.m. or 9 a.m.
“The first couple years were a struggle getting up so early but after time we got used to it,” said Kan.
Kan and Pum learned the donut trade because their parents used to own donut shops. The couple perfected their parents’ recipes and opened their own donut shop.
They were thrilled to hear they made Yelp’s Top 100 list but recognize that wouldn’t have been possible without their customers. “We appreciate all our loyal customers who spread the word about our donuts as well as our new visitors trying them for the first time,” said Pum. “We hope to keep Hole in One open for many more years, thank you for all the support.”
