IT’S THE DONUTS, SILLY!

Northjersey.com : News

* Entenmann’s and Salvation Army honor ring-shaped treat.

June 1 is National Donut Day, but for one Entenmann’s executive every day is doughnut day.

Lisa Mahon focuses on doughnuts 365 days a year as category director at Entenmann’s. She is based out of Totowa, where Entenmann’s, and two other baked-goods brands, Thomas’ and Arnold’s, which are owned by the same parent company, have offices and a distribution center.

Entenmann’s, founded in Brooklyn in 1898 by William and Martha Entenmann, is now owned by the Mexican food conglomerate Grupo Bimbo and operated by its U.S. division, Bimbo Bakeries USA, which is based in Horsham, Pa.

Entenmann’s has made more than 4 billion doughnuts since it began what it prefers to call its Donut business in 1972, enough to circle the Earth nine times.
The Rich Frosted Donut, first introduced 40 years ago, is the company’s bestseller.
Entenmann’s bakery in Carlisle, Pa., is the largest doughnut factory in the U.S., producing more than 40 million boxes a year.
The bakery rolls out 12 million doughnuts a week, in 25 varieties.

Source: Entenmann’s

Two years ago, Entenmann’s joined with the Salvation Army to sponsor the charitable organization’s annual celebration of National Donut Day. The Salvation Army in 1938 designated the first Friday in June as National Donut Day to honor the so-called doughnut lassies — women who served refreshments to the troops during World War I.

As the category director for doughnuts, Mahon is overseeing the company’s promotion of the event, which includes a contest to win free doughnuts for a year. The company is also offering to donate $1 to the Salvation Army for each new fan who likes the company on Facebook — up to $25,000 — and is hosting doughnut giveaways on June 1 in New York’s Madison Square Park and in Chicago.

About 120 people work out of the Grupo Bimbo headquarters on Riverview Drive in Totowa, where Mahon is based. The building contains a distribution center where delivery staff for the Entenmann’s, Arnold’s, and Thomas’ brands load up their trucks each morning at 5 a.m.; an outlet store; and marketing and support services.

The doughnuts sold in the eastern half of the country are made in Carlisle, Pa., in the country’s largest doughnut factory. Entenmann’s has five distribution centers in New Jersey.

Most important question: d-o-n-u-t-s or d-o-u-g-h-n-u-t-s?

D-o-n-u-t-s. No “h” in our Donuts.

How do Donuts stack up? Is it one of Entenmann’s biggest divisions?

Donuts are the biggest part of the business at this point.

What kinds of trends are you seeing in Donuts?

Indulgent. And seasonal varieties. And we have limited edition items. What’s been interesting is Facebook has been a wonderful platform for us. We have over 400,000 Facebook fans. They’ve been a great source of consumer research. Our Entenmann’s loyalists are going to tell you what they want; they’re very passionate about the brand. We’ve brought some old-time favorites back based on feedback on Facebook.

Such as?

We just brought a Devil’s Food Crumb Donut back this year. We brought it back as a limited edition, and we kept it on the menu because it’s doing real well. We brought back Raspberry Rich Frosted Donuts seasonally.

Why did Entenmann’s get involved with National Donut Day?

You see a lot of people celebrating National Donut Day, and we hadn’t done anything with it on the part of the Entenmann’s brand. A couple of years ago I reached out to the Salvation Army, and they were interested in partnering with us, so we’ve had a relationship ever since. We did a similar promotion last year, and it was very successful. We’re really excited to be able to partner with them and support the work they do.