Jesus Poem and Athena Guy’s gourmet donuts are a hit in the North Island.
Poem started selling Italian bomboloni donuts here in town after being laid off from his cooking job up north. He was at home and his partner Athena said, “why don’t you make those Italian donuts?”
Poem had actually first learned how to make bomboloni donuts at a fine dining restaurant he had worked at in Alberta.
He gave it some thought, then decided to go forward with the idea, and now they have been averaging over 20 orders every week, delivering the donuts on Friday’s to their hungry customers.
The demand has been so high that Poem and Guy are interested in opening a brick and mortar donut shop in Port Hardy.
“It will be for coffee and donuts,” he said, adding they are wanting to open shops in Port McNeill and Port Alice as well, and hoping to expand down island after that.
If you’re wondering how to order a box, Poem said you can send in online orders to their Facebook page, “but we also take orders from people who phone in.”
The number to call is 250-902-8478, and they usually take orders from Saturday all the way to Thursday. Once all the orders are in, Poem starts baking at 2:00 a.m. on Friday, finishes by 8-9 a.m., and then the donuts are ready for delivery by 10-11 a.m. You get six donuts in a box for $15 and there are nine different flavours.
As for feedback on the gourmet donuts, Poem said it’s been “fantastic, when I look online there are tons of great reviews.”
He added he wanted to say thanks to the community, and to “keep up with the support and help your local businesses, we need more economic stimulation within Port Hardy to keep everything going.”
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