Welcome to Beyond the Plating! This will be a series of blogs that takes my love of food photography and combines it with the stories, passion, and knowledge from great restaurants and restaurateurs. The idea behind this series is to showcase unique cuisines, matched with unique stories on how restaurants get started, how they interact with their community, and what drives them into the future.
Our third stop on this journey…
Mama Crockett’s Cider Donuts
Some things are so interwoven into our existence that their absence leaves a void, a hole, if you will. I did not know how much I cared about donuts, until I moved to Virginia and could not find a good donut. There were no family-run bakeries that had been around since the time of the dinosaurs, nothing unique, nothing special. If you are ever in my home town of Marquette, Michigan, check out Huron Mountain Bakery. In my recent home of Kalamazoo, Michigan, Sweetwater’s Donut Mill is a must. And if you’re ever in Michigan in February, get thee to a Paczki. When we moved to Virginia, I couldn’t find anything like the donuts I was used to. I had a hole in my life, a donut hole, and I had to find something to fill it.
One day, I was given a Tiffany blue box emanating a sugary, apple smell that gave me hope. That heavenly smell and blissful bite came from Mama Crockett’s Cider Donuts. Created by F.W. Willis, a former history teacher turned entrepreneur, who was driven to do something unique and meaningful, with a passion for life and connecting with people. F.W. says, “if you focus on being real and meaningful with people, good business will be a byproduct of that, people will want to be part of what you are doing.”
F.W. Willis left an unfulfilling career and began building and creating. F.W. spent one summer building a shaved ice shack; Shavey Crockett. Once that summer was over… what then? In walks Shavey Crockett’s cool mom: Mama Crockett. Why donuts? Why not.
The apple cider donut comes from...well here! Specifically, in Northern Virginia where F.W. grew up, where he says there is a sort of apple culture. “It’s something that I felt I could sink my teeth into and be proud of,” F.W. says. It was something unique, it could be done with a small footprint, and a simple business model. Mama Crockett’s gets their cider from an orchard in Nelson County, Virginia, a point of pride for F.W. They drive up to an orchard, and get fresh pressed cider from the apples just outside the building. F.W. feels like he is exporting a little bit of his unique hometown flavor on his food trucks.
Mama Crockett’s food trucks travel throughout Virginia and North Carolina, expanding their community. It is this community that is so important to F.W. and his Mama Crockett’s team. At Mama Crockett’s, they are providing an experience, not just a donut! People across the region check their facebook updates for locations of Mama Crockett’s trucks. With a three hour radius from Lynchburg, Virginia, Mama Crockett’s has been to a ton of places.
While other food trucks depend on going to highly populated areas to make it worth their while, Mama Crockett’s is recognized in a multitude of small towns all across Virginia and North Carolina. They wake up at 3 am, drive to a small town, and essentially hold their own event by making a community their spot for the day. Making these connections and giving people that unique experience no matter where, really drives Mama Crockett’s.
F.W. recalls a story about Debbie from Wytheville. Every time Mama Crockett’s made a Facebook post, Debbie would comment with a simple “Wytheville? :)” Mama Crockett’s would always say, “Keep at it! One day.” And eventually they make it to Wytheville. They titled the event “First Annual Debbie Repass Donut Day: A Day of Donut Celebration”. It became an instant frenzy; the local newspaper did a front page story, the local fox station did a segment on their arrival. They let Debbie herself choose which charity their proceeds would donate money towards, and they raised more than $500.
Mama Crockett’s makes one thing, the apple cider donut, and they do it well. For four years, F.W. built his business on this model of doing one thing, and doing it right, concentrating on core quality and connecting to a community. With the simplicity of their product, Mama Crockett’s was able to put more energy into how they connected with people to enhance their experience and create their community. Now the goal is to expand their food options while nurturing the quality of their product and the personality that they have established in communities across the region. Last year, Mama Crockett’s added a brick and mortar store to their donut army and they use this as a home base for experimenting and expanding their business model.
In just one year, Mama Crockett’s has created five new flavor options which are available at their Lynchburg storefront. The three trucks have stayed true to their cider donut roots for now. F.W. hopes to expand their fleet to ten trucks, and add to their donut options. He is excited about all that they are developing at Mama Crockett’s for the future, but he acknowledges that the changes will happen slowly because his main focus, is and always will be, to maintain the culture that Mama Crockett’s has created. He is not willing to sacrifice customer service to meet more demand, but is focused on continuing to deliver the unique and uncompromised experience that Mama Crockett’s offers.
As a teacher, F.W. says he felt like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. As an entrepreneur, his goal is to find ways to create the shape of the peg to fit the hole that he wants to fill. And I for one, am glad he chose to fill the donut hole.
I want to thank EVERYONE at Mama Crockett’s for their hospitality and peek into the world of cider donuts! I love how every one I met that day were super upbeat and willing to help me out. If you every find yourself in the Lynchburg area, make your way over to Mama Crockett’s and treat yourself. While I love all the new things they are trying, you cannot go wrong with the cinnamon sugar.
Shout out to Steph Reschka who takes my notes and writings and weaves a beautiful narrative.
Thank you for all the like’s , love, and shares!
-TR