With freshly made doughnuts for 99 cents each, Warner Robins shop is a popular stop. See it
.JPG "These doughnuts are made fresh daily on site of a popular shop in Warner Robins that sells them for 99 cents each except the $3 maple bacon (not pictured). This box of doughnuts cost $12.71 with tax.")
Christopher Rainey often stops at Ray’s Donuts in Warner Robins.
“I wouldn’t go anywhere else,” said Rainey with a bag of doughnut holes in one hand and a mango smoothie in the other. “They’re the best.”
The small shop at 405 N. Houston Road is known for its wide variety of doughnuts made fresh daily on site and sold for 99 cents each. The exception is the $3 maple bacon doughnut.
The 99-cent pricing is “so they can try and know us more,” said Kimhang Eang, as she used tongs to place a half dozen doughnuts in a colorful box with “You deserve a donut’” written on top.
How long will 99 cent pricing last?
When the shop opened Jan. 10, the 99 cent special ran for the entire month. The shop often sold out of doughnuts as its bakers worked to adjust to the growing demand.
On Feb. 2, the shop raised the price of doughnuts to its regular pricing of $1.40 each, or $7 for a half dozen or $14 for a dozen. The exception was still the the $3 maple bacon doughnuts, which are sold separately.
On April 9, the shop announced on Facebook that the price would go back to 99 cents starting May 1st.
Eang expects the 99 cent special will stay in effect through the end of the year.
While she acknowledges that price is a factor, Eang said she thinks the shop is popular primarily because the doughnuts are so good.
“Most of the customers say they taste soft and fluffy,” Eang said.
‘Always busy’
It’s common to see a steady stream of customers at the store.
“Every time we’ve been here, they’re always good, and they’re always busy,” said customer Janna English.
Her husband Bennie English chimed in, “The best in town.”
The couple encouraged their granddaughter, 7-year-old Reagan English of Savannah, to pick out a couple of doughnuts from the more than two dozen featured in the display cases in front of her.
The girl chose a glazed doughnut covered in coconut flakes and a glazed doughnut with strawberry icing and sprinkles on top.
Doughnut choices
The display cases were filled with a host of other options, including glazed doughnuts draped with chocolate, vanilla or maple icing, and several cake doughnuts including red velvet, chocolate, blueberry and crumb cake.
Apple and blueberry fritters, cream-filled doughnuts with flavors such as Boston cream or vanilla cream and jelly-filled doughnuts with flavors such as strawberry and lemon also filled the display cases.
A few more choices included cinnamon buns, cream cheese turnovers, bear claws and cinnamon twists.
All of those offerings fall under doughnuts that sell for 99 cents each. Doughnut holes sell for $1.25 for a half dozen and $2.25 for a dozen.
And that’s not all the shop offers.
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Sandwiches
The shop also serves up sandwiches all day on bagels, croissants or wrapped in burritos. Choices include egg and cheese; ham and cheese; sausage, egg and cheese; bacon, egg and cheese; and turkey, egg and cheese.
Bagels also are served with cream cheese and come in plain, everything, cinnamon raisin, sesame and blueberry flavors.
Kolaches are made with sausage and cheese with or without jalapenos.
Sandwich prices range from $2 to $4.95.
Beverages
The shop offers coffee, hot chocolate, hot cappuccino with mocha or vanilla flavoring, iced coffee, Thai iced tea and Thai iced green tea, milk tea and lemonade.
Beverages also include a variety of frozen cappuccinos such as caramel and chocolate peanut butter, and smoothie flavors such as mango peach and taro as well as Boba tea and toppings.
The cost ranges from $1.25 for a Boba topping, to $2.25 for a small cup of coffee, to $4.25 for a frozen 16-ounce cappuccino.
Additionally, a grab-and-go refrigerator is filled with Coca-Cola products, juices, Yoohoo, regular and flavored milks, soy milk, Snapple teas, Gatorade and bottled Smart Water. Prices are as marked.
A family business
Owned and operated by a Cambodian family, the shop is the seventh Ray’s Donuts in Georgia with its sister locations in the Atlanta area, said Porcaou Seng, while working the cash register. Each of the shops is owned by a different Cambodian family, she said.
The popularity of doughnut shops among Cambodian immigrants can be traced back to Cambodian refugee Ted Ngoy, various media outlets such as the Los Angeles Times have reported. Doughnut shops offer a relatively inexpensive way for immigrants to start a business, and families often follow other families and learn from them, according to a myrecipes article. The doughnuts are American-style.
Ray’s Donuts is open from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, including holidays. The number is 478-236-2930. The shop can handle large orders for businesses, churches and other big groups with advance notice.
The shop is designed for takeout and has a drive-thru.
Parking is tricky, with only one regular parking space and one handicapped space in front of the business. The nearby DaVita Dialysis Center of Middle Georgia parking lot to the back right of the shop is rarely full and is a short walk to the doughnut shop.
The doughnut shop opened within the former Keen’s Cleaners location after a remodel.
