Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Wells.
Ryan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
About 10 years ago we moved from Hamilton, OH to Knoxville, TN for a job relocation and to be closer to my wife’s family. She is originally from Maryville, TN. After settling in we had a weekend tradition to get donuts on Saturdays. We quickly found that there was really not many options at that time for a small local donut shop that offered fresh made donuts. So after a few years, frustration with my current job, a community need of a good donut I set out to see what it would take to be my own boss and open our first store, Beaver’s Dough-Joe. We opened November of 2018.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Surprisingly it has been fairly smooth. When we set out on this adventure everything just fell into place. Never owning our own business or making donuts, God really just kept opening doors. It was a scary leap from being an electrician by trade to opening a donut and coffee shop, but thinking back on all of it. God was by our side.
We survived Covid. We had just opened our second location and we had the “covid shut down”. We had hit a hiccup on opening that store. Long story short we had to put in a walk up window to pass our codes inspection due to a narrow door which due to the age of the building couldn’t be widened. At the time this was an unexpected expense and frustration. We didn’t understand at the time but man had we not put that window in, that location, Panther’s Dough-Joe would have never made it through Covid. Our first location had a drive-thru. So we were able to stay open on both locations and operate by window only. So to answer your question, it has been a fairly smooth road.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
With opening other locations: We have branded to “be known as The Dough-Joe’s” with Each location business name taking on the local high school mascot in the name and in our logo. We make fresh made donuts and pastries and we offer locally roasted coffee from the Golden Roast Coffee roaster. 3 of our locations offer bagels from “The Bronx” we have them shipped in weekly and they really are amazing. We offer them with Bacon, egg & cheese or with sausage. We have bagels toasted with cream cheese, and of course my favorite is our “Dough-Griddle” its a breakfast sandwich on a glazed donuts!
We also offer cinnamon rolls the size of your head and the best apple fritters around. One customer said “our glazed donuts beat Krispy Kreme hands down”
My wife likes to say “our donuts don’t need to be hot to be good.”
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Customer service and quality of product. Great Customer service is hard to come by now in days. We train our employees to offer nothing but the best. Each customer is greeted with a smile and hello and we strive to get to know our customers on a personal level. We have alot of regulars at all of our locations and have made alot of friends along the way.
We aim to offer the best quality on our food and coffee. Never selling day old donuts. We make fresh daily and when we sell out we close. We offer pre-ordering so that our customers can be guaranteed to get their favorite donuts. This helps with large orders as well.
Contact Info:
