This October, Courtney Buckley will celebrate the 5th anniversary of her business, Your Mom’s Donuts. The idea was to run a (family) business…support her family and pay her employees a living wage. “I originally just wanted a family-friendly donut shop,” she said.
Back then, she was a brand new mom who delivered her donuts to people. Now, she owns three locations (Matthews, Charlotte and Monroe, NC) and is scouting around for more (looking at Davidson and South Charlotte). “I’m getting to the point where I’d like to grow this to a much larger brand, regionally,” she said. Courtney employees four full-time and three part-time employees. “I’m always looking for an opportunity (for another shop),” she said. Her Matthews kitchen, at her flagship store, is used to bake donuts for the other locations. Nearly 2,100 donuts were made on a recent Saturday, alone.
Her donuts remain square, not round; her flavors are all natural and are sometimes found right at the Farmer’s Market: carrot-thyme; strawberry fennel jam; snow pea glaze with yogurt drizzle; sliced beets; cucumber-mint; and basil when it’s available. “I didn’t want anything here that I wouldn’t find in my own kitchen,” she said. Her one caveat? The recent addition of sprinkles on her donuts. Everyone wanted sprinkles, she said, which she “fought and fought and fought,” but recently agreed to add them on top.
Nothing is premade; everything possible is found locally; and she supports local businesses, too (Pure Intentions Coffee, for example).