With savory and sweet options, Eden Doughnuts sees success at State College location

Eden Doughnuts opened right at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and, over the last year, what began as an uncertain adventure has evolved into a story of success as the brand has expanded to two mobile units and a team of nearly a dozen employees.

“We opened on April 5, in the middle of the shutdown and I was four weeks from having my fifth child at the time,” owner Mary Lapp said. “It was scary, but it ended up being an amazing day. We had a line all the way out to the road and we actually had to close two hours early because we sold out of everything and we didn’t have anything to offer anyone.”

Eden Doughnuts, a mobile doughnut and coffee shop with locations at Martin’s Garden Center in Tyrone and Meyer Dairy in State College, began out of Lapp’s love for doughnuts, but a dislike for the way they made her feel.

“I always loved doughnuts, but they make me feel really ‘bleh,’” Lapp says. “So I started making my own and I discovered, with the sourdough especially, I could eat six of them before lunch and not feel sick at all.”

As a result, she and her husband began formulating a business plan and Lapp’s signature doughnut recipes in 2019, starting construction on their first mobile unit in January 2020. They placed their first unit at Martin’s Garden Center, where both Lapp and her husband have worked in the past, before expanding to Meyer Dairy and eventually building a second, smaller mobile unit. They’re now able to serve two locations each weekend.

“We’re at Meyer’s and Martin’s every weekend,” Lapp says. “It keeps us busy. Last weekend, we made about 1,800 doughnuts on a Saturday.”

While the couple’s original plan was to attend fairs and sell during Penn State football games, Lapp said that the lack of large events over the last year hasn’t been as worrisome as one might think. Still, she hopes to attend fairs over the 2021 summer season.

“We had a really good year, despite not being able to go to fairs, which was part of the plan when we started, and there were also no football games here at Penn State. Even without that, I felt like we had a good year, more than I expected in our first year,” she said.

So what’s the secret to Eden Doughnuts’s success? Lapp points to her doughnuts’ lack of artificial ingredients and preservatives, as well as the unique items on the menu.

“I don’t know anyone else who sells sourdough doughnuts,” she said. “We (also) have a signature whipped cream filling that we created ourselves that’s light and not overly sweet. So far, with the filling, we’ve done vanilla, maple and peanut butter. That’s been a big hit. It’s all homemade and fresh and made that day, usually.”

There are also savory doughnuts on the menu, which Lapp calls “a lighter, fluffier version of a soft pretzel.”

“We have the jalapeño and garlic (doughnut), where we put jalapeños and garlic in the dough and then we dip them in garlic and sprinkle salt on the top,” she said. “You can have those with a cheese sauce. ... Last fall, we did a stuffing doughnut with onion and celery and all kinds of seasonings. That was just crazy good.”

While the savory doughnuts are one of Lapp’s favorite creations, she’s also looking forward to this summer’s fresh fruit and recreating doughnuts that proved fan favorites last summer.

“I’m really excited for peach season,” she said. “Last year, the loaded peach (doughnut) was our best seller. We take peach pie filling and slice fresh peaches into it and fill the doughnut with a whipped cream and top it with the peach pie filling. ... We do that with strawberries, blueberries and cherries. You have the doughnut and the light cream and then the pie filling.”

Of course, she added, that’s one doughnut that you’ll need a fork to eat.

Each weekend, Eden Doughnuts offers both cream-filled and fruit-filled doughnuts, along with five icing flavors, with reliable favorites like chocolate and peanut butter always available, but a few rotating options as well, such as maple and lemon. The jalapeño and garlic savory doughnut is always on the menu, too. For customers seeking a gluten-friendly option, Eden Doughnuts offers a gluten-friendly apple fritter that contains no gluten-containing ingredients and that is fried in clean oil.

Looking ahead to the next year of business, Lapp is hoping to take Eden Doughnuts on the road to regional fairs, but, further down the line, she has her sights set on a permanent building with a drive-through, in the State College area.

Learn more about Eden Doughnuts and find current hours and menu items at www.facebook.com/edendoughnuts1.