Join us for Doughnut Day! We all deserve a sweet treat and a coffee break throughout the day, so Ashgates have organised for Project D to supply us with some tasty Doughnuts on the morning of Tuesday 17th May. Hey, We're Project D! It is so nice to be able to work with a local successful business. So local in fact, that our very own Conor’s brother Max, is one of the founders! Leigh’s brother is also within the marketing team over at Project D. Keep on reading to find out more about their journey! Project D was founded in 2018 by 3 friends who shared a passion and love for food. They travelled the world in search of the perfect doughnut! Their main inspiration came from the USA's 24 hour doughnut demand! In New York there is a doughnut shop on every block! So the mission to create the world’s best doughnut began! The founders spent countless hours researching the best equipment, ingredients & baking techniques from across the world. With the help of a craft baker, they began making the first batch of Project D's and sold them at small, local markets and events with all the money being reinvested back into the business. They soon had three Midlands shops and a growing online fanbase. In 2020, they swapped their indoor shopping centre kiosks for outdoor pop-up shops and launched a home delivery service due to the pandemic. During a trying time they rapidly retrained their staff & contacted local suppliers to source free-range eggs, flour & yeast in a bid to help their local community through the national shortage. The innovation enabled Project D to create jobs & bring custom to local businesses. Their community work saw their support network grow even further! In September 2020, Project D moved into an 11,000 sqf facility and built a state-of-the-art custom bakery to cope with the increased demand. This created more jobs within the local area. They then launched a nationwide delivery with daily deliveries across the U.K. using DPD. Project D have successfully collaborated with 100’s of companies including – British Airways, Brewdog, Coca-Cola, Amazon, Love Island, Sainsbury’s and lots more! Fast forward to today, Project D’s ‘Dream Team’ now has over 100 employees who create, bake, box and deliver doughnuts Nationwide via online sales, a network of pop-up events and through their shops! History of National Doughnut Day! Of course, we don’t need a reason to celebrate National Donut Day. For some people, we are betting that they wish every day was in honour of this special treat. However, this day has special significance, and this goes all the way back to the events of the First World War. There wasn’t a lot for our soldiers to cheer about when they risked life and limb on a daily basis, but National Donut Day came to pass, in part, due to the efforts of a doctor in the military in the first World War who sought to brighten the day of the wounded soldiers he worked on. On his first day to the Military Base, he purchased 8 dozen doughnuts and gave one to each soldier he worked on. After giving one to Lieutenant General Samuel Geary, who received it with great mirth and appreciation for the doctors work, Samuel decided to start a fundraiser, letting the young doctor, Morgan Pett, to continue to provide doughnuts to his patients. This fundraiser began working together with the Salvation Army who, after a fact-finding mission, determined that many needs of the soldiers could be met by creating social centres that would provide all sorts of amenities, including the doughnuts. The Salvation Army sent 250 volunteers to France to help put these huts together, which soon became a mainstay of military life. One record of a day in the huts recorded up to 300 doughnuts and 700 cups of coffee being served as part of their service. In honour of the work that had been created for the brave soldiers on the front line, people used ‘National Donut Day’ to raise awareness and raise funds. So, that is the history of National Donut Day. We will also have a donation pot alongside if you would like to make a charitable donation to
Sam’s Superhero’s The Directors would like to thank all the staff for their continued hard work and support at Ashgates. Comments are closed.
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