We spoke with marketing and branding manage Katie Plazarin, who co-owns the shop with her husband, Danny, to give readers five things to know about Holtman’s Donuts and its newest site.
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1. Numerous varieties made fresh daily
Keeping with tradition, donuts are handmade fresh and from scratch each day, with a staff that cranks out the sweet treats as quickly as possible.
“We make it from scratch, so it’s a labor of love,” Plazarin said. “It’s very intensive. Our philosophy is to kind of keep things the way they’ve always been.”
The seemingly endless amount of cake donuts include interesting, sometimes unusual flavors like Lucky Charms Marshmallow, Red Velvet Cake, Oreo, Iced Blueberry and Maple Bacon, to name a few.
There’s also a wide array of yeast doughnuts, doughnut holes, cakes, danishes, fritters and turnovers.
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2. Making the doughnuts isn’t a top secret process
There’s no hiding the process from prying eyes at the new Holtman’s Donuts. Employees concoct the sweet treats up front in an area that allows onlookers a sneak peek at each doughnut being loving — and sometimes laboriously — crafted as they enter and exit the business.
There’s also a glassed-off area that shows the doughnuts and other creations being put in and taken out of ovens before being put on display for purchase.
“We want to make sure we’re not hiding anything from you,” Plazarin said. “You’re seeing exactly what we’re doing, what we’re putting in the doughnuts.”
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3. A multi-generation family business
Holtman’s Donuts’ roots stretch back to 1960, when brothers Charles and Marvin Holtman opened the first shop. Family members opened other locations thereafter, bringing the total number to 13 at one point.
Charles Holtman daughter, Toni Plazarin, took over the remaining location in 1995, going on with her husband Chuck to open a second one in Williamsburg in 2009. The couple, along with children Becky, Lorrie and Danny, operated the family business for years, with Danny and wife Katie opening a shop in Over-the-Rhine Shop four years ago.
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4. The new shop’s larger size helps all locations
Plazarin told this media outlet that the new location is her “dream shop” and has everything other locations have, but is larger, with increased seating both indoors and outdoors.
“We opened Over-the-Rhine in 2013 and we very quickly ran out of room,” she said. “It’s a very small operation down there.”
The entire OTR space would fit inside just the indoor setting area in West Chester, Plazarin said.
“With the (new) store, we wanted to blow people away,” she said. “We wanted a space where you could sit and you could come with your family … and have a fun time.”
The added space has allowed Holtman’s Donuts to produce more donuts and fulfill bigger orders, which has allowed it to start catering again, Plazarin said.
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5. Hours have changed to deal with demand
Since making its West Chester debut in September, the doughnut shop changed its hours of operations to accommodate customer demand. Its now open from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sundays and Mondays and 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.
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