You can customize your fresh, warm doughnuts at this new Warner Robins shop

A new doughnut shop in Warner Robins offers warm, made-to-order vanilla cake doughnuts with customizable coatings, toppings and drizzle.

Duck Donuts celebrated its grand opening Saturday at 6011 Watson Blvd., Suite 300, in a shopping center anchored by the Publix at Gunn Battle.

Franchise owners and life partners for 18 years, Naomi Smith and Ron Harris of Macon, discovered Duck Donuts while vacationing in Cape Coral, Florida.

“We just fell in love with them,” Smith said. “I mean, it’s just really, really good.

“And the reason we went into it from a business standpoint is because there’s a need for something like that here ... I think a lot of people in the community will appreciate it.”

The couple aim to make their doughnut shop “a family, fun experience.”

“We know the product is great, but what makes it important for us is making sure that guests feel welcome enough to come back,” Smith said.

What to expect at the new Duck Donuts

The batter for the doughnuts is made fresh, with any unused dough tossed within 30 minutes and a new batch made, according to Smith.

The doughnuts are fried within view on site.

Customers can step up onto a long bar in front of a counter to select from a variety of coatings such as glazed, cinnamon sugar and powdered sugar, and icings in flavors like peanut butter, maple, strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, lemon and blueberry.

Next, customers may select toppings — OREO cookie pieces, chopped peanuts, toasted coconut, rainbow sprinkles, chopped bacon, graham cracker crumbs, mini chocolate chips and more.

For the final touch, customers can choose a drizzle such as hot fudge, marshmallow, raspberry, salted caramel or any of the coatings.

Additionally, customers can choose from a wealth of signature doughnuts also made fresh to order and served warm, like Smith’s favorite: The Boardwalk doughnut that’s glazed with OREO cookie pieces, powdered sugar and vanilla drizzle.

Smith also likes the French Toast doughnut with maple icing, cinnamon sugar and powdered sugar, and the Cookies & Cream doughnut coated with vanilla icing and topped with OREO cookie pieces and hot fudge drizzle.

Additionally, doughnuts can be ordered by the dozen in various flavor packs, including classic, breakfast, fan favorites and party themed.

The shop also offers merchandise of duck pens, small rubber duckies, coffee mugs, tote bags and plushies of the store mascot, Ollie the duck.

All in a name

The franchise name traces back to the Outer Banks in Duck, North Carolina, where founder Russ DiGilio enjoyed vacationing with his family. But their favorite beach spot didn’t have a doughnut shop. So, they decided to create their own, opening the first Duck Donuts in 2007.

“They never wanted it, at first, to be a franchise,” Smith said. “They just kind of felt like it was something fun, a family type of experience that they could provide to the locals.

“But people was loving it so much that they wanted to know how they could have their own, and so they had enough inquiry about it that they said, ‘OK, let’s go ahead and make this a franchise.’”

Duck Donuts began franchising in 2013. The company has more than 145 locally owned and operated shops across 27 states and international locations in the Bahamas, Curacao, Egypt, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Thailand, according to a December 2025 Duck Donuts news release.

The Warner Robins Duck Donuts is the first in Middle Georgia. The two other Georgia locations are in Acworth and Alpharetta, according to the company website.

Hours & Location

Hours for the Warner Robins location are expected to be 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

The doughnut shop offers limited dine-in, takeout, online ordering, catering and delivery through Door Dash, Uber Eats and Grubhub. The shop’s number is 478-654-6054.

The Publix and its shopping center housing Duck Donuts have a Byron address, but are part of the city of Warner Robins by annexation.

This story was originally published February 26, 2026 at 5:00 AM.