200 million donut lovers.
This is the astonishing number of Americans who eat donuts, a figure that is important to know for National Donut Day on Friday, June 2. In advance of this enormous promotional opportunity for retail bakeries and donut shops, Dawn Foods presented the “Dawn Foods Virtual Donut Show” to provide retailers with profit tips and new product opportunities.
“Everyone loves donuts. This is a great opportunity to drive traffic,” explains Bryan Fitzsimmons, Director of Insights and Marketing Channel Strategy at Dawn Foods, speaking about National Donut Day. “Every customer can find something they like. Dawn offers a wide variety that makes it easy to create exciting donuts.”
Dawn Foods is your partner for bakery success because Dawn wants to help you become more profitable while saving you time and easing labor concerns. “With National Donut Day coming up Friday, June 2, we want to show you everything Dawn has to offer in our donut portfolio.”
Source: Dawn FoodsHere’s a great example: Milk & Cookies Donuts feature Dawn Bavarian cream filling, chocolate chips and fudge icing. Just click on the online recipe tab at dawnfoods.com.
“Dawn started conducting Virtual Food Shows during the COVID pandemic since we couldn’t be in person with customers. The shows enabled us to share product information, insights and have product demonstrations with customers. The shows are often accompanied by some promotional pricing on featured items,” explains Jennifer LaPaugh, Sr Director of Marketing Communications & Events.
“Through the execution of the VFS with customers and prospects during that time, we realized there was a benefit (even beyond not being able to be face to face during COVID) that we could have a broader reach with these shows. Unlike some of our local baker’s gatherings, which are very successful at drawing customers from a narrow geographic range, these could be shared with customers nationally.”
As the partner for Bakery Success, Dawn plans to continue to run Virtual Food Shows a few times each year alongside local in-person shows and larger trade shows.
New flavor options
The Dawn Foods Virtual Donut Show featured creative ideas to make Everyday donuts (made with Dawn’s Raised A donut mix) anything but ordinary. Dawn has the classic flavors that you need to exceed your customers’ expectations. Don’t forget to use social media as part of a full strategy for you to be successful.
According to Dawn research:
- 53% of consumers are very interested in seasonal flavors.
- 63% say their last donut purchase was an LTO (limited time offer).
National Donut Day is the perfect occasion for your bakery to launch a new LTO menu item!
Source: Dawn FoodsCustomers are also looking for new food experiences, and Dawn’s new Mochi Donut Mix offers delicious flavors with light and airy texture.
In addition, Dawn offers more than 20 cake donut flavors, such as Lemon Old Fashioned or Blueberry Coffee Cake.
Melissa Trimmer, Corporate Executive Chef of Dawn Foods, shares ideas for Dawn’s Blueberry Coffee Cake Donut made with Dawn Exceptional® Majestic® Blueberry Flavored Cake Donut Mix, which offers “twice the flavor and is really customizable.”
The blueberry crunch topping is made with real blueberries. Flavors can help you be regionally relevant or add a twist to your donuts. Talk to your Dawn sales rep for more details.
PRO TIP FROM MELISSA
When drizzling donut icing, go beyond the donut to give a nice clean drizzle over your donut. Help is just a click away.
To make this year’s National Donut Day promotions work like a charm for your bakery, Dawn Foods is the perfect resource for all your needs. Start with a visit to dawnfoods.com/recipes for dozens of decorated donut ideas. You can test new recipes and train staff with informative demonstrative videos from Dawn to learn to produce them quickly. And don’t forget to order extra ingredients to have on hand, including extra “You Deserve a Donut” packaging.
Total solutions from Dawn make it easy to shop and prepare for National Donut Day. You’ll be able to stock up on donut mix, icings, glazes, shortenings and the important toppings needed. For your donut topping fun, Dawn has versatile chocolate options like chocolate chips, chocolate drops and chocolate chunks.
Plan ahead
Dawn offers additional promotional ideas to help bakeries maximize this unique opportunity to drive donut sales. You can create spaces in your bakery that encourage your customers to share their experience (and your donuts) with their friends and followers. Try this idea: set up a selfie station with a fun photo opportunity. Use Dawn’s “You Deserve a Donut” giant donut standee positioned where customers will be encouraged to stand behind it and take pictures. Or hang the National Donut Day Poster on your front door where customers will be sure to see it. Contact your Dawn sales rep for more information on promotional signage.
Source: Dawn FoodsAnd more important than ever before, social media is a great way to invite your customers to celebrate with you on June 2. Download-ready social media assets are available at dawnfoods.com/national-donut-day. This useful kit includes animated social posts perfect for Facebook and Instagram.
As shoppers enter your bakery, encourage them to purchase a donut (or several) for someone else who deserves a treat and place a “You Deserve a Donut” sticker on the bag or box. For retail bakeries, don’t forget to promote your event on your own social media accounts using posts downloaded from dawnfoods.com/national-donut-day.
Pro Tip: Have a marker available for your customer to write the recipient’s name on the sticker.
As always, we look forward to seeing your success in action this National Donut Day!
