Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hudson Valley This Morning with Ed Kowalski is the new
voice in the Hudson Valley.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hi, this is Ed.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
I am so grateful for the support you've already given us.
We are creating a platform that gives you our listeners
a voice. Together, we can build the best local community
talk program in the Hudson Valley.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
We'd love it if you tuned in to Hudson Valley
This Morning with Ed Kowalski from six to nine am
Monday through Friday on fourteen fifty thirteen seventy AM or
ninety eight five FM WKIP.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Seven twenty eighth On a frosty morning, I was just
outside the studios picking up our next guest, who I'm
very anxious to I guess welcome back to the studios.
Jen Foley has just joined me. She is the owner
(01:00):
of I guess it's safe to say, Jeff, one of
my favorite stores, and that is the Is that is
the Donut Dolly in one hundred forty four in Poughkeepsie.
And you've been now in business now for.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
For one year and two months.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
So it's been a year since I last seen you.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Yeah, I think I came on last October and we
sample the Boston creams.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
We did. We yeah, and I think we actually did
what was called the donut off, if you will. And
I think that the Boston Cream donut at your store
is unequivocally the best Boston Cream donut that I've ever had,
probably in seven states.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
It's really just amazing. And as a matter of fact, now, Jeff,
Jeff is mad at me because I brought in a
box of donuts because I knew that you said you
weren't going to be able to bring us in some samples.
So I said, you know what, you know what, I
got to tell you, I'm going to go get them yesterday.
So I ran down to Donut Dolly yesterday afternoon. I
(02:04):
picked up the box that's in front of us. Now
you'll notice, Jen, You'll notice that there's you do see them,
and you'll notice that there's two spaces that are missing.
Because I tried to be able, I brought them home
and I said, no, no, no, these are going to
be for the show tomorrow. And you toured. About seven
(02:25):
o'clock last night, I said to myself, Wow, I had
dinner and I said, I don't have any dessert in
the house. So I went and I had a boss
decree and it was delicious. Thank you, And then I
said and then and then being terribly being terrible. Around
ten o'clock that night, the box of donuts were just
(02:48):
calling to me, and I said, should I or shouldn't I?
So I went and had a cider donut and it
was delicious.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
So we're going to take a quick break. We're going
to be talking a little bit about donuts and how
important donuts are for the Thanksgiving holiday. This is Ed Kowalski.
We'll be right back with Jen Foley. Stick around, folks,
seven thirty six. You're listening to Hudson Valley this morning
(03:18):
with Ed Kowalski. I am so pleased that Jen Foley
is in this studio. I guess I talk a lot
about donuts, don't I? Jeff Jeffrey, don't I talk a
lot about donuts? I do? I do. It's it's please
don't let my doctors know that I'm talking about donuts.
But listen, Jen, I wanted to do this with you. Obviously,
I haven't seen you in a year, although I do
(03:40):
go to your store all the time. And I just
have to tell our listeners and I want to tell
you on air that the individuals that you have working
in your store are some of the nicest, kindest young
people that I've ever met. They're just so so helpful
because ultimately, now the individual who I bought these donuts for,
I'm going to walk through because I wanted to be
(04:01):
able to make sure that all of our listeners understand
the variety of donuts that you're currently offering. And I
actually picked up a vegan donut.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Yeah, we just started making vegan donuts last week. Actually
we started them this weekend. I started practicing last week.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Now, what makes a vegan donut a vegan donut?
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Well, there's no eggs and there's no dairy.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Okay, no eggs and no dairy. Yeah, all right, I
haven't tried one, but we have one there, and perhaps
maybe between now and the end of the show, I'll
take a bite of it to see what you think.
But I will. I guess I got a dozen donuts there,
and I guess you know I've identified the Well why
didn't you identify what's in that box?
Speaker 4 (04:40):
So we have the strawberry jams, which Delicious are a
customer favorite. Delicious we always serve those we have the
Boston Cream, the crembul at the Crembulay we normally have
on the weekends, and then we have our maple cider,
which and a regular sighter and we serve cider donuts
year round.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Your cider donuts are delicious too. That that was my
ten o'clocks ten ten. That was my tenth That was
my ten PM snack with a glass of milk.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
We actually do catering orders for weddings and showers, and
most of the time people buy the cider donuts, so
we make, you know, hundreds of cider donuts for weddings
and the maple cider.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
No, hang on for a second. Now, that's an interesting
thought because here I am thinking when I called you
to say, hey, can you come on the show, because
I want for particularly for Thanksgiving week, because I'm trying
to be able to change, to create a new paradigm here.
I want to be able to have instead of bringing
the boring apple, cherry or coconut custard pies, which by
(05:43):
the way, are all my favorites, why didn't you bring
a box of donuts for Thanksgiving? Why is that a
good idea?
Speaker 4 (05:49):
Well, because donuts are fun and.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
You're not going to have an argument for me on that.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
One, Jenny, where you have one pie, you could have
a box filled with twelve different varieties. Also from what
I the feedback I got from the weddings and parties
that we cater is that there's almost never any leftovers
or waste. And also you can take your donut and
walk around.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
You don't have to as opposed to being able to
have a plate and a fork and all that other
kind of stuff and balancing a napkin, balancing a fork,
balancing a little pie play type thing. That's a really
good point.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
Yeah, so people are like, you know, you could grab
your donut, you could walk around. You don't have to
sit down when it's dessert time. So that's why donuts
are fun.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Donuts are fun. And I will tell you this now.
The thing that was amazed after now, who is a
gentleman who helped me yesterday together? That that was Aiden, Aiden,
a good young man and he actually he organized them
in this beautiful box. And do you know the amazing
thing about it is when I was walking the donut
box out to my car, I was amazed how heavy
the box. Yeah, it's like, wow, look at the size
(07:01):
of these donuts.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
The fillings.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Yeah, and the fillings are terrific. The just hey, Jeff,
I understand, I'm seeing you with the Boston cream donut.
What do you think on that? Hang on, he's gonna
put his headset sign. He's gonna tell he's gonna give
us a live report here, folks. It's amazing. It's an amazing,
amazing donut. It is. It's incredible. It is really is.
It's the best Boston cream donut. I think I love
(07:23):
the thickness of it. Yeah, and you know what I like.
And we said this the last time you're on. It's
not too terribly sweet. No, no, it's perfect. It's a
perfect donut and a cup of coffee. Forget about it. Yeah,
it's unbelievable. Yeah, it's good stuff.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Now.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Now it's interesting because of your sign outside in front
of your store in forty four, I was I chose
to take I chose to have the strawberry. Now what
is this one here?
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Is called the strawberry It's strawberry jam.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Fill the strawberry jam filled one. Unbelievable, thank you, unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Yeah, we actually get our strawberry jam. So most of
the fillings we make in house by scratch, which is
probably why they're not too sweet for you. And the
strawberry jam we buy from a local farm called Beth's
Farm Kitchen, and it's it's delicious because it's completely fresh,
there's no preservatives, it's strawberry sugar water, it's it's made
(08:16):
like a fresh jamb. So thank you. Yeah, they're a
customer favorite. The thing is, we roll ours in like
a powdered sugar, but a lot of our customers are
at a standstill because some want them in regular sugar,
like rolled in granulated sugar, and some want them in
powdered sugar, and we don't know what to do.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
That's interesting.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
What are people like more? Do you have a preference?
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I think I prefer the powder the powdered sugar. I
think the granulated sugar is sort of been there, done
that kind of thing. Yeah, you know, I think the
powdered sugar is a decent, decent change. But but the
fillings are are just spectacular. But do you take custom orders?
I mean I might here you do, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
We do custom orders for you know, sometimes if someone's
having a bridal shower or a birthday, party, and they
want a special design on the donut. We can accommodate that.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Now, how far how far in advance do people need
to be able to give you to make a custom order?
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Forty eight hours?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Forty eight hours? Yeah, and now walk our listeners through
the donut making process at your store. I mean when
do you start? I mean, how does that work?
Speaker 4 (09:35):
So I start at three am.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Three am?
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Yeah? Oh my gosh, yeah, three and that and I
can't do any later than that. Ideally midnight would be
good if I really wanted to take my time, but
to get everything exactly on time, three.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Am, three am, So so you'd come in. I mean
you're mixing the batter, yeah, you know, and then you
obviously have ovens in the store.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Yeah, well we use friars fryers.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Okay, I've got it. And then how long does it
take to make a Boston cream donut?
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Well, we have everything prepped the day before, so like
the fillings will be made the day before, we proof
will make the doze in the morning, you know, in
the morning, proof them, fry them. It's three hours.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
It's three hours.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
It's three hours.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
And how many batches? I mean, I mean, what is
the what is the I guess it's a silly question,
but how many Boston Cream donuts do you make? Or
I mean any one of your donuts?
Speaker 4 (10:36):
I mean how I mean in a so we'll make
will make a few hundred a day? Wow, yeah, a
few hundred a day.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
And the shelf life on them, I mean how long?
Speaker 4 (10:48):
No more than twenty four hours. I do have customers
that will come, you know, pick up a box of
donuts and say they're driving to family's house out of
state and they want to eat them the next morning.
So I'll just tell them put it in the refrigerator
and then the next day, you know, you could bring
it to room temperature. I even can you freeze them?
(11:08):
I have customers that freeze them. I have customers that
come in and love the Boston Cream and will buy
a few and then freeze them and defrost them and
then microwave them for like seven seconds, and they're fine
with that. I will take home apple fritters, right and
it's like that. I'll put them in my freezer and
then the next day, I'll you know, put them in
(11:31):
the microwave or even air fry them for just a
few minutes and they're totally edible.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
No, no, how many different varieties of donuts. I mean,
what I brought here are sort of the samples that
I've I haven't had the cream brewlet yet, and I
certainly haven't tried the vegan donut. Jess Jet and I
will do that. Jeff and I are going to have
a vegan donut between now and nine o'clock. Jeff, We're
going to do it. So but what other kinds of
varieties have I missed? What haven't I tried? Jen? And
(11:58):
what do you think I need to try next?
Speaker 4 (12:00):
You should try our twists.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
The twist I saw them.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Yes, you haven't had one. I have not had a
twist right now. The twister on fire. For some reason,
people are coming and buying them in like bulk, taking,
you know, buying six or seven of them and taking
them home. And I do think that they are freezing
them and then just eating them throughout the week in
the morning with their coffee or something. But the twists
(12:26):
are great, and our honey buns are really delicious because
we put like a you know, a cookie butter butter
cream on top, and those have been really popular. And
now I'm starting to add like another honeybun and then
making that topping like a seasonal topping. So we just
finished doing the honey buns with like a pumpkin cream
(12:47):
cheese on top. Those are really good, But overall we
have well over twenty different varieties of donuts.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Where where do you get your ideas for donuts? I mean,
I mean, do you really do you think that? I mean,
do you research it? I mean try this? How does
that process work?
Speaker 4 (13:02):
So I take everything everything's copy basically, you know, the
donut Dolly is, you know, based after named after the
original donut dollies. And then so I took that idea
and now I'm like, okay, i want everything all American nostalgic.
So I'll take things from American culture and American food culture.
(13:25):
For instance, last week on a whim, I made a
chocolate ding dong donut because we all love our you know,
our it's hostess, right, our hostess. I'm going to bring
them back this week for Thanksgiving. So and I sold
just a few this weekend. It's a chocolate dough. So
(13:48):
I'm making now my regular donut dough is now a
chocolate dough. And I made it, and I didn't know
what to do with it, So we fried up the
buns and created it. Let's make a ding.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Dong ding Dong donut. Oh my god, Jen, I'm gonna
have to ask you. Let's say what. Let's take a
quick Jeff, Let's take a quick break. And I want
to get back to the hostess ding I mean the
ding Dong donut at Donut So we'll be right back.
You're listening to Kowalski Hudson Valley this morning. We'll be
right back with my favorite store in all of the
Hudson Valley, Jen Foley and her Donut Dollies, Hi seven
(14:40):
fifty one on Hudson Valley this morning. At Kowalski, you
leave the studio doors open, and guess who wandered in?
Speaker 5 (14:46):
Hello, Uncle Mike Money, How are you far as I
can tell, I'm okay.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Sitting in front of a box of donuts. I bet
you're gonna be fine. Jen, you just shared this funny, funny,
funny story and without divulging any confidential information pertaining to
who your customers are, if you could just repeat the
story that you just told Uncle Mike and I about
about people coming the story about just repreat the story.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Well, I'm I'm everyone's best kept secret. So I have
multiple customers that come in that don't want family members
knowing that they're here buying treats, and so they will
pay cash, so you know, credit card, you know, debit
card reports aren't showing that my shop is coming up.
(15:34):
I have customers that I see outside the store that
I'll say hi to and they kind of ignore me
because they're family's with them, and maybe they have diabetes
or not, I'm not sure. I also have people that
I had a woman come into the store with her
friends and you know, I acknowledged her and I was like,
(15:56):
oh hey, I was like, you should try this new donut.
You would love it. And friends looked at her and
they were like, oh, you come here all the time.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
And wow.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
The woman was like no, no, no, and she looked
at me like shut up.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Can you imagine spot? Can you imagine your opening, the
wife getting the credit card statement saying, honey, what is
this donut? Dolly charge?
Speaker 5 (16:20):
I could just see the old timers, you know, they'll
meet her out and you know, I say, who's that, Oh,
that's my proctologist.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Don't worry about it.
Speaker 5 (16:30):
I mean, can you imagine having to lie about getting
donuts unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
I've told the listeners. My favorite story is that when
I went through the back in the day when I
really wasn't enlightened in terms of donut purchasing, and I'd
go to, you know, a national chain to get my
morning coffee and a donut, and the individual handed me
my order. He goes, here, you go ahead, And I
looked at him, and I looked at him and said,
(16:56):
do we know each other? And he goes, yeah, yeah,
I know you from my other job. And I said, well,
what's your other job? Because why do the drive through
window at McDonald's. Oh, so I got I have to
work on my diet. You got me. That is an
absolutely true story.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
So I'm curious.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
Now you're fourteen months in business, and you started up
a business in one of the roughest economies we've been
in in a long time. You navigated your way because
I think that, first of all, you've established yourself as
the best doughnuts in the Hudson Valley, no question, no
question about it, no not even anyone close to you.
Because it's fresh, it's whole. You know, you use all
(17:34):
the whole, wholesome so you've got that part of it down.
But to start in a in a an economy like
it was, how did you battle through that? It had
to be hard because you and you have a premium
product at a slightly higher cost what you should be
and you're coming out in a time when people don't
want to pay. So how did you navigate through that?
Speaker 4 (17:57):
It's naivity. I was totally totally you know, naive, and
you have to be in a sense to kind of
like ignore, you know, what's going on in the world
and just do what you want to do. And I
had the idea for a donut business probably like four
(18:20):
or five years before I even opened up the store,
and so I was just waiting for an opportunity to
come up where maybe I could open up a store here.
And then and then I saw the whole Eastdale development
going up, and before they before they even started building,
I contacted them and said, I think we should put
(18:41):
a donut shop here, and they were like, absolutely great idea,
and I signed on with them. And then and then
when I signed the least that same week, COVID hit
and kind of shut everything.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
Oh my god, gosh, can you imagine even above and
beyond COVID, I mean, the economy in the shape it's in.
But first of all, now it makes sense that you're
explaining yourself because you put a lot of thought into
this show.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Yeah. I wasn't going to back out. I didn't.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
Yeah no, but you obviously had this plan for a while.
East Sale could not have been a better selection for you.
That's a perfect spot for this donut shop, it really is. Yeah. Wow.
So that's interesting though, that you you know, now things
hopefully are going to get a little better. Yeah, I
think they are. We all hope they are.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
And uh, you know, don't listen. Listen if if customers
are coming in insisting on paying cash as opposed to
me because they don't want their wives to know where
they are, that's a whole other that's a whole other
kind of store. Huh. You're gonna have the FBI there
thinking you're running the numbers. Oh my gosh, why didn't
get so much cash in this place.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
I've had a.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
Little bit of pushback with pricing, but not much after customers.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Well why though, I mean, I mean, look, I mean
we could say I mean, I mean, you know, your
Boston Cream donut is three dollars and fifty cents.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Now, I guess if you were to look at that
and compare it to some of the other donuts that
are in the area, you'd say, wow, that's a little
bit pricey. I will tell you this, I'd pay more.
I would pay more for that donut because it's I.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
Raise prices starting tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
No, I'm just no, no, no, no, no no, you want
to say that.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
No, no, but I actually so, we offer discounts. So
the Boston Cream on its own is three fifty if
you want just one donut, right, but if you buy
a half dozen, get fifteen percent.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
And I got it.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
One dozen is twenty percent.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
I got that off. I was amazed because when when
aid was Aidan, right, that's right, when Aidan rang me up,
he then put something else into the computer. I was like, oh,
it's a little it's lower money. I was like terrific.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
Yeah. So that actual Boston Cream is now like two
dollars and eighty cents. So you know, if you buy
a dozen donuts you get you get like between seven
and eight dollars off that total that total price. So
our prices.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
You should not be telling him this because now that
he knows he's getting.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
A distills turning in his head.
Speaker 5 (21:05):
He tastes like they're frequent flyer miles. He's going to
be in there saving none of money on donuts.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Well, we do offer a rewards program, do you here
you go, Jen Foley from Donut Dolly, Listen, folks, happy Thanksgiving.
Let's try to be able to get donuts on your
Thanksgiving table this year. Because you're not going to be disappointed. Jen,
We're going to have you back regularly, So thank you
for coming on in