We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sarah Belisle. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sarah below.

Hi Sarah, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

My family and I moved to Florida in September of 2022 from Massachusetts and not only was there the expected culture-shock and weather-shock… but I am afraid we experienced some “donut-shock.” Having migrated from New England where donuts are a celebrated staple, Florida had a more mobile, quick-service approach. We completed a “donut tour” where we would pack up and travel all around the Tampa area to try every donut we could get our hands on-for educational purposes of course :) Respecting what current donut dealers were dishing out, I knew I had more to offer. Everywhere we went, we found mini cake donuts that were usually sold in packs of 6 or 12 and decorated to order. We couldn’t find big, giant, artisan-style, yeasted donuts anywhere. So I knew I was the woman to make them.

When I first starting dreaming up my donut company, I knew it had to have a reference to Florida without being too upfront about it, “Tampa Bay Donuts,” “Tampa Donuts,” “Florida Donuts” was all too targeted. I wanted a symbol that people would recognize and think of Florida but keep it fun and playful. My mother, a known flamingo-enthusiast, has cute little flamingos all over her Florida home. My son Jonah (almost 3) obviously loves playing with them and it wasn’t until we were at the Tampa Airport and Jonah and my mom were screaming and running around the giant Flamingo statue that I stopped and said, “That’s it!”

Flamingo Donuts was born right then and there. We would have this iconic bird bring us a business. Boxes would all be pink, our logo would be pink, and we quickly developed a theme. At first I was researching the food truck route, but I did not want to be limited to outside of office buildings in downtown Tampa. I really felt like the residential area of Wesley Chapel that we moved to needed this gourmet niche. Having very little money for start-up costs, I decided to apply for local farmers markets. We had our second son Jude in June and were struggling to make ends meet living off of one income so 3 months later, it was down to business! I did copious amounts of research on business permits, local markets, licensed commissary kitchens and by September we were up and running.

Now participating in The Market Elaine at the Grove in Wesley Chapel, Ybor City Saturday Markets, The Sunset Market in Midtown Tampa, The Sunday Harvest Markets at the Grove in Wesley Chapel, and selling our donuts at The Bean Bar in New Tampa, Flamingo Donuts has created quite a following! We are currently looking for available commercial space to open a storefront! It’s funny how watching my son and my mom share a fun memory of playing with the giant flamingo while passing time at the airport has created the very business that is helping shape his future. Our children are the best motivation out there, and I am going to work my hardest to give him and his brother the best lives… and the best donuts!

Sarah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Sarah Belisle and I graduated from The Culinary Institute of America with an Associate’s Degree in Baking and Pastry Arts and a Bachelor’s Degree in Foodservice Management. After culinary school, I worked for incredible companies including “Magnolia Bakery,” Joanne Chang’s “Flour Bakery + Cafe,” and Best of Boston 2021’s “Union Square Donuts.” I also competed on Food Network shows such as “Guy’s Grocery Games,” “Buddy VS Duff,” and “Holiday Baking Championship” where I was a finalist! Having an exciting career in the baking and pastry world, I grew to love wedding cakes, cookie decorating, and found my true love in donuts! Now that I have my own donut company, “Flamingo Donuts,” I truly have 100% of the creative freedom I have always desired in the kitchen! I get to make my donuts exactly how I want; I use only butter (where most competitors use shortening) because it gives a delicious, rich flavor. Every donut is mixed that day, hand rolled, cut, fried and decorated. Every donut is made to impress and delight! And with a fun, rotating seasonal menu, I can constantly entice customers to stay tuned for what’s next to come!

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

What I found to be the happiest moments of managing a team was training. There is no better feeling than showing someone how to properly ice a cake or roll dough to the perfect thickness and seeing the spark in their eyes when it clicks and they can also do it! Baking is truly a craft you pass down from one person to another. My chefs taught it to me in school and I have gotten to leave my mark on quite a few talented bakers and decorators in my past. It’s also very difficult to NOT have high morale when you get to use the amount of sprinkles I get to use everyday.

People work their whole lives at dead end jobs or punching numbers to see a paycheck. When you get to do something you truly love, it’s not a job at all. And pastry- talk about the opposite of a “thankless job.” You get to see every customer’s face light up when they see your creation. You get to hear the “yums” as each bite is taken. Baking is all about making people happy and I get to do that everyday.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

In culinary school we had to watch a documentary on Ben and Jerry. Jerry, I believe, had a lot of sinus issues and his sense of taste was pretty week. He kept telling Ben to put more and more flavoring and more and more bits in the ice cream. He kept pushing him to make every ice cream absolutely overflowing with flavor and I think about that every time I design a donut. Because a donut is dipped in glaze or topped with something, it also sits on a very big, flavorful donut. I need every glaze to be overflowing with flavor that it doesn’t get lost on top of a donut. I want my donuts absolutely covered in toppings so there is something interesting and delicious in every bite.

I also was very influenced by Danny Meyer’s “Setting The Table.” There is a story in it about a woman who came to dine at one of his restaurants and accidentally left her wallet in a taxi cab. Danny invited her to go sit and enjoy her lunch while he tracked down the cab company and paid for one of his staff members to go retrieve it while the woman ate. When the check came to the table, the waiter had her wallet as well, safely returned. The woman was so thankful and impressed, as well as the table of friends she sat with, they were just raving about the excellent customer service. The lunch could have been mediocre, but the service left the lasting impact That woman and her friends probably told their friends about the heroic event and how impressed they were. Sometimes when we serve food to hundreds of customers a day, it’s easy to forget each person is that… a person. An individual person that we aren’t just serving, we are “taking care of them.” I love this Danny Meyer story and tell it to all my managers I train.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.flamingo-donuts.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eatflamingodonuts/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552801763029
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-belisle-4b183570/

Image Credits
Andrea Radford Photography