We were lucky to catch up with John and Joanna Scism recently and have shared our conversation below.

John and Joanna , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

How we ended up owning a donut shop you ask? Well, it’s quite funny because neither of us had ever really made a donut before until the day we got the Keys to Donut Connection on a Friday afternoon, April Fools Day to be exact. We locked the door behind us, and with our 6 month old strapped to my back, we started making donuts. The next morning, we opened the doors on an early Saturday morning and started selling them, just as Mr and Mrs Ayen had done for 20 years before that. The rest is history, it took plenty of sleepless nights, and lots of learning, but here we are still making old fashioned donuts and our customers keep coming back for these sweet treats. We added some new menu items like the Croughnuts, which is a glazed croissant+donut and New York Bagels, Pork Roll breakfast sandwiches that really hit the spot in the morning. We are happy to say, last year we acquired the Philly Cheesesteak restaurant next door to the donut shop, so we are now able to sell donuts throughout the morning, and into dinner time that has made our customers even more happy. We have a passion for good food and service to the community, so keeping these two restaurants alive after 27 years of serving the people of Goose Creek, SC, we are just more than blessed to still be doing it.

John and Joanna , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My husband Chris is a chef, and I have a degree in Kitchen Design, but have always worked in the food and beverage industry. We have 4 young children and we remain determined to show them you can do anything you set your heart to. God has always provided a way for us and met the needs of our growing business and family. Faith over fear. Surviving the pandemic in the restaurant industry took a lot of pivoting, at one point I was delivering donuts all over Charleston with the kids in the truck with me, to many a family also at home doing virtual school and what not. It was a time to really connect with our customers and continue to support the community, one Donut and cup of coffee at a time.

We’d appreciate any insights you can share with us about selling a business.

After we took over the Philly Cheesesteak restaurant next door to Donut Connection, we struggled with staffing both shops, and paying two sets of bills. 2 rents, 2 electric and water bills, and our biggest customer complaint was “great donuts but you can’t ever get them” So we devised a plan… we would move the donut case into Philly’s and sell donuts all day from Philly’s, but still cooked them in the donut shop. One day we called a local company that sells restaurants in the area with a plan to sell our Donut unit and figure out how to move the donut fryer into Philly’s. We ended up getting a buyer for the remaining equipment in the unit that wasn’t donut making equipment. It worked out really well for another family to start a restaurant and for us to unload the stress of double the bills. We are really excited to be able to serve donuts throughout the day, and not many people leave with their Philly Cheesesteak without also getting a donut, so the new business model has proved successful!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

When it comes to being a chef there’s many things that you can do on the fly so to speak. But when you are baking, it is a science. So there was quite a bit of a learning curve when we first got into donut making. Depending on the weather, the humidity, which here in the South fluctuates significantly throughout the seasons, you really have to learn how the dough rises. If you’re not careful, it can run away from you, or it can be too dense and soak up grease. No one wants a greasy donut. We really had to learn the process through trial and error and sometimes that meant throwing out a whole batch of donuts in the middle of the night and starting over. It can be brutal to work long nights and early mornings, but taking pride in the product always comes first. Nothing better than a good fresh donut though, and we are just as addicted to them as our customers.

Contact Info:

• Website: DonutConnectionGC.com
• Instagram: DonutConnectionGC
• Facebook: Philly’s and Donut Connection of Goose Creek
• Twitter: FreshDonutsGC

Image Credits
Photo credit to City of Goose Creek