To the delight of many in Lee’s Summit, convenience store owner had this sweet idea
For more than 20 years, numerous metro area Temp-Stop convenience stores partnered with local suppliers to provide fresh doughnuts. But not long ago, the stores’ owners saw a possibility.
“After watching our suppliers and competitors struggle to deliver consistently outstanding fresh-baked products, we knew there was an opportunity,” said Terry Green, one of Temp-Stop’s owners.
Green said the leadership team initially considered developing a ghost kitchen to produce the fresh pastries.
“But there is nothing like the experience of walking into a doughnut shop,” he added.
The idea took hold, and Temp-Stop now operates two area Baxter’s Coffee + Donuts, including a Lee’s Summit location that opened late December. The 4,000-square-foot Lee’s Summit shop was built to handle production of 8,000 to 10,000 doughnuts per day and currently supplies the seven Kansas City area Temp-Stops, as well as the Grain Valley Baxter’s store.
On busy days, the Lee’s Summit Baxter’s produces approximately 5,000 doughnuts daily. Around 20% of these are delivered to the convenience stores and the Grain Valley Baxter’s each night.
It takes three large fryers to produce that number of doughnuts, along with two ovens at the Lee’s Summit store to produce other pastries, breakfast and lunch items. Beyond doughnuts, Baxter’s also offers pastries like Dutch letters, pastry pies, Danishes, turnovers, sandwiches and wraps.
“We were truly fortunate to hire a pastry chef from Pella, Iowa, who has been making pastries for more than 40 years,” Green said.
Favorites doughnuts among customers include the traditional glazed, apple fritters and long johns.
“I’m biased, but I believe our apple fritters are the best in the country,” he said. “With hand-made doughnuts, there’s always going to be a personal touch to each and every doughnut. Most of our competitors are shipping in frozen doughnuts and reheating. At Baxter’s, we start from scratch, every day.”
Beverage offerings at Baxter’s include a variety of coffee and tea options, specialty drinks, espresso, ice cream frappes and fountain drinks.
Opening the new shops has been both rewarding and challenging, Green said.
“The comments from our customers have been overwhelmingly positive,” Green said. “We love to hear what they have to say and use it to congratulate our team or learn how to make everyone’s experience better.”
Challenges have included determining best practices and reaching the efficiency needed to produce thousands of doughnuts every day.
“With our convenience store background, we are wanting fast, fast, fast,” he said. “But with hand-making specialty drinks to order, it takes time. So being patient with ourselves and getting it right for the customers took some retraining. You just can’t take shortcuts in this business.”
The Lee’s Summit Baxter’s Coffee + Donuts, located at 1729 N.E. Langsford Road, is open from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. The store has a drive-thru. An online ordering app is currently in the works.
