Earlier this week I attempted to find a locally-owned donut shop in the suburbs of Chicago. Unable to make it across town to Dat Donut, I hoped to find a mom-and-pop donut shop, but it was a fruitless trek. In the area where I was, all of the shops recommended by the hotel staff, listed in the phone book, in the GPS and on-line as locally owned have been converted to Dunkin’ Donuts. My GPS will show up to 50 locations under one category, 47 of the 50 donut shops it pulled up were Dunkin’ Donuts, the other 3 had recently converted to….you guessed it, Dunkin’ Donuts. Some were the new Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin Robbins combo, some had the new Dunkin’ Deli signage. It seems that locally owned donut shops are not surviving amidst the large chains. Only one non-Dunkin’ shop was spotted, a still under construction Krispy Kreme.
The large number of Dunkin’ Donuts in Chicago had me thinking about the challenges before me in finding 52 different donuts. My plan is to visit as many donut shops as I can, not to visit just a few donut shops and try a different donut each time. Finding 52 donut shops would be difficult in the Chicago ‘burbs, but it seems Dunkin’ has a different plan, offering exactly 52 varieties of donuts. I hope this is not a trend, as I really enjoy the unique, locally owned shops.
Back in K.C., it was on with the original plan. There would be no Chicago donut this week, but instead another fun trip at home to find a great donut. With wind chills below zero and snow covering the ground, we headed out this morning for Jack’s Donuts at 2400 S. Lee’s Summit Road in Independence. Today marked the coldest donut adventure so far but it was toasty inside Jack’s, with the morning sun streaming in through the East-facing windows.
I had part of a glazed yeast donut and a sour cream donut, along with 1/2 of an apple fritter that I shared with Em. Em also had a glazed chocolate cake donut. The glazed yeast donut was very tasty and very light. The glaze was very sweet but not overpowering on this particular donut. The apple fritter was yummy, but not John’s Space Age Donuts yummy. The sour cream donut, which the owner said was his favorite, was quite tasty. It almost melted in my mouth and would have been amazing without the super sweet glaze. Em’s chocolate cake donut was also good, but again the glaze was extra sweet. Not that extra sweet is a bad thing…
We enjoyed coffee with our donuts and even though a self-serve coffee station was available, I was treated to a table-side refill followed by additional refill offers. Super nice folks at this place! Lots of regulars dropped in for their Sunday morning donuts while we were there, which seems to be a good indication of donut quality. Plenty of variety was available, even as 10 o’clock approached, with apple-cinnamon, blueberry, cherry, two coconut variations, long johns and an interesting dunking fingers style donut still in the case. Jack’s is a nice little donut shop with super-friendly folks behind the counter. I wouldn’t hesitate to go here again!
Jack’s is located at 2400 S. Lee’s Summit Road in Independence, MO.
went to this donut shop, Jacks Donuts in Indep., Mo. on Lee's SUmmit Rd. Bought half a dozen donuts ( cinnamon rolls, choc. long johns and blue berry), paid $8.97 for them. Got home, they were HORRIBLE! SOAKED in grease, you could like feel the fat u were eating. NO FLAVOR at all. The Blueberry ones didnt even remotely take of blueberry, just soaked of oil. Same with cinnamon rolls and long johns. Hugely disappointed. Called up there and said something. Told me to come up for refund. I did and he asked where donuts were, made me drive all way back home to get them and bring them back. I did, he( the owner) looked at them, asked where rest were. I said ” Are u serious? How do you think we realized the oil soaked of the donuts? He said he saw the oil soak in the donuts but since didnt have them all he wouldnt refund me.” I walked out……….told the customer coming in NOT to get his donuts. And I drove off. WASTED $8.97 and WILL NEVER RETURN THERE AGAIN. And now am spreading my experience with this place. I could have gone across the road to quik trip and bought better donuts.
DO NOT GO HERE! U will be sorry you did.
We've always thought the owner of Jack's was generally pretty friendly, his donuts pretty much suck. They've been there a long time and I've been there a couple of times and the donuts have always been barely edible.
Poppy's Donuts on 24 Highway on the other hand is almost the complete opposite. Their donuts are awesome. I've never had a bad donut there. However, sometimes their customer service kinda sucks, not often, but just sometimes. However, I'll put up with a little crappy service from time to time to have their donuts.
Jacks dounuts are awesome. He will make anything you want. I always have had great dounuts there. The Independence Honda location provided Jacks in thier waiting room.