A knead-to-know basis
Although there won’t be seating inside the venue, the eatery is located on the edge of Market Square, which has tables and chairs for visitors to the Prahran Market to make a pit stop.  Belinda says the recipe for the old-fashioned doughnuts is based on the Berliner pfannkuchen – think yeast, sugar, flour and margarine – and has remained the same since her Pa bought the business from a German confectioner after World War 2. 

In Australia, Belinda believes serving the jam-filled treat hot is a concept that is unique to Melbourne and says even its nearest competitor Dandee Donuts is a spin-off opened by a former employee who decided to branch out on his own.  “The popularity of our doughnuts could be as simple as the cooler weather we get down south. In winter, the doughnuts double as hand-warmers. Melburnians embrace them as a nice, sweet treat but they also appreciate the nostalgia and of course the fact they are so incomparably delicious when served hot,” says Belinda, who works behind the scenes in the business.

“Our customers are also drawn to the theatre to it. I remember I would try and catch the doughnuts after my grandfather cut them and that is something our staff still do. You’ll see it on our stories on Instagram. They’re following in Pa’s footsteps,” she says.

Something to prove
Belinda says having a bricks-and-mortar venue will offer the business more flexibility and she is experimenting with offering different flavoured doughnuts for a limited time only. 

“The doughnut van doesn’t offer much scope to move outside of what we currently do – which is a simple doughnut served hot and filled with jam. And while the Prahran Market venue will be very much a production line, we do have extra space available to us, so we are toying with the idea of exploring some collaborations with other traders which will be in addition to our hero product,” she says.

As the third generation to manage the business, Belinda says her greatest thrill is when she gets to witness moments of joy for multi-generational visitors to the market. Belinda says weekends are the busiest, when the team transforms about 800 kilograms of dough across two days “into many little balls of joy for our loyal customers”.  “I have very fond childhood memories of being in the van with my Pa. At home he would sometimes cover the doughnuts in cream and ice-cream for dessert,” she says.

“My parents are retired now,  but they support the expansion of American Doughnut Kitchen and the fact we are continuing Pa’s legacy,” she says.

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