Pana rises to top of crowded Indianapolis donut scene with five area locations

There's a secret to the award-winning, soft, devilishly sweet donuts served at Pana Donuts' five Indianapolis area locations. And like many great traditions, this trick has traveled through time and across an ocean, guarded by owner Arron Sok and his family.

"It's a recipe from the family and me," Sok said while seated at the original Pana, which opened on Thompson Road just south of Beech Grove in 2019. "I heard a comment from a customer who said it could last two or three days and still be soft."

I believe it.

As part of my gleeful investigation into the area's great donut shops, I went to Pana's Fishers location at about 3 p.m. on a weekday — far from peak donut hours. It was the same fluffy, sugar-blasted experience as the one I had one Thursday morning on Thompson Road.

I have not yet found a bad donut (outside of a chain) in my travels across Indy, but Pana's texture puts it in another class. The flavors and toppings are relatively simple. It's all in the bite.

And I'm not the only one who thinks so.

In 2022, online review website Yelp named Pana the 19th best donut in the country. It was the only shop from the state of Indiana to make the top 100.

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The donuts

Pana offers both cake and yeast styles, with flavors from traditional glazed to lemon-filled, peanut-covered chocolate or cinnamon. Among its most popular items: a unique version of a cronut that is essentially a croissant dipped in donut glaze, rather than a donut built from croissant layers. Cinnamon rolls and apple fritters are also top sellers.

Sok spells the word donut, not the technically proper doughnut, and I agree with him. It's a donut.

In addition to baked goods, the shop sells fabulous, equally sweet Thai teas, coffee and breakfast sandwiches.

I watched Sok prepare a batch of donuts. The secret is there. I can taste it. But I can't see it.

Time may be the key.

The dough is mixed for 45 minutes, then rests another 15.

Sok rolls two arms' worth of dough out on a flowered table. This batch will be for glazed and cinnamon twists, so he slices with one hand and twists with the other.

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Another 15 minutes of rest, then about 20-25 minutes in a proofer box, which has both temperature and humidity controls to get a good rise.

After 10 more minutes of room-temperature sitting, the donuts are fried in palm soy shortening for less than a minute.

"Simple donuts," Sok stressed to me. "Simple."

Sok estimates he sells 1,500 to 1,800 donuts per weekday at his southside store, and 3,500 to 4,000 on the weekends.

Each donut also entails a fair bit of inedible elbow grease. A handful of employees help with the frying and costumer service, but Sok does much of the work himself.

For Sok, it is an unfathomably long day.

"I start work at midnight and work until 2 p.m.," he said. "Fourteen hours every day. Seven days a week."

Asked if he considered handing off some duties, especially with a 4-year-old and a baby on the way at home, Sok said he would only allow a member of his family to take over — and only with considerable training.

The family

Sok's parents owned a bakery in Cambodia. He immigrated to the U.S. in 2013 and worked in bakeries in Texas before opening a shop in Arizona.

While his family's shop did not make donuts, Sok said he incorporated some of its cake and bread-making processes into Pana's donut recipe.

"There's a little bit of my mother in there," he explained.

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Sok and his wife, Pichima Prum, moved to Indianapolis for its low cost of living and family atmosphere. They own and operate the flagship Pana store, while subsequent locations on 86th Street, Washington Street and in Fishers and Avon are owned and managed by family members, who each use his secret recipe.

Pana is an acronym for Sok's family. The first two letters come from Prum and Sok's first names, Pichima and Arron, and the last two from their children, Nelson and Alena. The couple had selected a name for their second child, who is due in June, years ago and used it for this purpose.

Prum works the front counter and drive-thru window, though, mercifully, not for 14-hour days.

While some food-service businesses struggled during the pandemic, Pana has grown from one local location to five in just a few years.

Sok credited his drive-thru window, which allowed him to stay open, as well as some unintentional word-of-mouth.

"I thought we should help the community, so we did a giveaway for first responders, health care workers, police officers: Half a dozen donuts for free without any purchase for two weeks," Sok said. "People spread the word and came to support us."

Other contenders

There is no shortage of good donuts in the area.

Long's Bakery is a time-honored staple for good reason. Rise'n Roll, Boyden's Southside Bakery, Doughnuts & Dragons and Ohanalulu each make a solid donut as well.

I wouldn't turn down any of these, and too many solid donut shops is a good problem to have. The Circle City loves donuts. That fits, right?

What do you think?

As always, IndyStar is open to your suggestions. We turned feedback from a previous story recommending pizza into a full March Madness-style bracket, so it is appreciated.

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Rory Appleton is the pop culture reporter and columnist at IndyStar. Contact him at 317-552-9044 and rappleton@indystar.com, or follow him on Twitter at @RoryDoesPhonics.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis food recommendation: Pana Donuts rises above the crowd