Celebrate National Doughnut Day at Gram's

Today, the first Friday of June, is National Doughnut Day. The celebration of one of America's favorite fried sweets started in 1938 as a fundraiser for the Salvation Army in Chicago. Here's the story of one doughnut shop in Largo: Gram's Old Fashioned Donut Shop.

When Howard and Sharon Robinson decided to open Gram’s Old-Fashioned Donut Shop eight months ago, Largo was the only city that came to mind.

Although the location was an easy choice, donuts weren’t the first thing the Robinsons considered offering. Initially, Robinson thought of running a breakfast and lunch restaurant.

“In doing my research, I found out that 90 percent of restaurants fail in the first year. So I thought Why not try coffee," Howard said.

Howard is a donut aficionado. His wife’s family had worked the bakery business in their home state of Michigan for 70 years, so adding donuts was an easy choice .

“I’ve always said coffee and donuts are a poor man’s luxury, so I wanted to set up something for people to escape the world for a few minutes,” he said.

While Boston crème is one of the shop’s most popular donuts, Howard delights in the specialties like the red velvet with cream cheese, banana split, mudslide and guava glazed. The family comes up with new donuts all the time in meetings where they mull over different options.

They don’t just offer specialty donuts. On top of danishes and muffins, Gram’s offers apple fritters that “go like crazy,” according to the Robinsons. He uses this as another area to experiment by occasionally offering unconventional fritters, such as black forest cherry, peach and strawberry.

Robinson admitted he’s not a bagel eater and he leaves that to the professionals by selling St. Pete Bagel Co. products at Gram’s.

Robinson had heard it could be difficult to get a business off the ground in Largo, but he had a positive experience with city officials.

“The first part was easier. The city worked with me, the inspectors gave me so much information and were phenomenal,” he said.

However, the reality of getting up almost every day in the ridiculously early morning and working into the afternoon was tougher for him.

“I didn’t think it’d be so hard to get a business off the ground. A lot of hours.”

Gram’s is open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday, which means Robinson is making donuts when night owls are just thinking about sleep.

Some mornings fill the shop with customers and a line, but things have become harder since the snowbirds left. Still, he said the business is doing well and he loves running it.

Howard bakes the donuts fresh every day, the leftovers are donated to Tampa Bay Harvest, an organization that matches food donations from businesses to appropriate venues and delivers them.

The shop’s donuts go to a local afterschool group.

Largo Patch Recommends:

The red velvet with cream cheese donut was a step above the average chocolate velvet sponge cake. For those with a sweet tooth, but who don’t want to go with junk food, try this gourmet donut instead.

For a satisfying power breakfast, try the red velvet muffin paired with a coffee. The muffin had less cream cheese filling and the sweetness seemed toned down, which works well if you don’t crave sweets but still want to start the day with something tasty.