At the corner of North Clinton and West Genesee streets, the fragrance of sweet dough floats on a breath of air one Saturday afternoon.

Inside the Glazed & Confused doughnut shop, located about 300 feet north of the intersection, co-owner Paul Valenti greets new and returning customers. When a father with two children enters the store, he hands them the shop’s stickers, which depict an illustration of a half-sprinkled and half-glazed doughnut with dot eyes, a mustache and a hat.

A variety of doughnuts, decorated with rainbow sprinkles, glazed with peanut butter and infused with cinnamon sugar, lay inside a glass container inside the shop. They’re only for display, to avoid the case being empty as the doughnuts sell quickly. Customers usually get doughnuts that come out of the oven within 15 minutes because freshness matters to Valenti.

“We are not really in competition with Dunkin’ Donuts,” he said. “We think we’re a little bit more crafty and we have a little bit more specialty.”

Glazed & Confused, which opened Nov. 16, came together after years of planning and collaboration within the family. The Valentis went on a vacation to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and visited a doughnut store called the Fractured Prune in the summer of 2015. The family fell in love with the shop and visited three times in the week they were in town.

During the six-hour car ride back to Syracuse, Roman, Valenti’s son, who was 8 years old at the time, suggested opening a business in Syracuse. Within the next 15 minutes, the family developed a business plan to open a store serving hot and fresh doughnuts.

Matthew Gutierrez | Senior Staff Writer

Valenti had some experiences in food business and catering as a former partner at the Palace Theatre on James Street and other locations. His wife, Sarah, an assistant director of events and facilities at the Syracuse University College of Law, thought of the store’s name during the drive.

Opening a store straight away seemed rash to the family, so they participated in a two-day fair called Taste of Syracuse in June 2016 as an experiment. The family did market research and talked about which flavors to pick in their living room between September 2015 and June 2016.

It was a huge hit, and the family came back to this year’s Taste of Syracuse and featured the popular Dizzy Pig doughnut composed of maple glaze, bacon and bourbon sugar.

“The lines were insane, like down the street,” said Izabella, Valenti’s daughter and a sophomore at Westhill Senior High School. “I did the cash register at Taste of Syracuse, and I think at least, if not every person every other person asked me, ‘Where are you guys located?’ But we didn’t have a location. … My parents were like, ‘Maybe we’re missing something.’”

Valenti and Sarah, future Glazed & Confused co-owners, started to look for a storefront location earnestly after the 2017 Taste of Syracuse. Valenti said the family picked downtown Syracuse because it attracts business people during weekdays and can bring families in on weekends.

Within the first hour of its opening day, Valenti said the store sold 1,100 doughnuts despite it being a weekday. The doughnuts, which ranged from $1 and $3 each, have diverse flavors such as “Sea Salt Caramel Apple” and “Cereal Killer,” which is made up of vanilla cake dipped in honey glaze and fruity pebbles. The store also offers vegan and gluten-free doughnuts.

Reilly Geer, Izabella’s friend from high school, and her mother, Shannon, bought a box of doughnuts for their family for the first time on Saturday. Reilly, who tried a sample at the store, said it wasn’t like any doughnut she’d eaten.

Matthew Gutierrez | Senior Staff Writer

Sarah, Izabella and Roman work behind the counter on weekends, explaining flavors to the customers and punching the prices into an iPad register. Both Izabella and Valenti said their favorite part of the store is getting to work with the family members. 

“Our tagline is called ‘Syracuse born and glazed,’” Valenti said. “And we want a plan that in fact we’re the only kind of artists in local doughnut shops left. And having the kids involved puts a punch on that. It stamps really well. … We want families to see the kids working. We want them to feel really welcome.”

The business hours are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, but the shop closes once it sells out of doughnuts. Valenti, who wakes up at 4 a.m. for preparation on business days, said the family is considering expanding business hours to late Friday and Saturday nights from about 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. for late-night customers next year. The store also delivers through Grubhub and UberEATS.

Valenti said: “My whole idea for the vision of this place was when people visit Syracuse, and someone at a hotel says, ‘Well, where do you go?’ I want them to say, ‘Well, we want to go to Dinosaur (Bar-B-Que), and, by the way, you want to walk around the corner because there’s a little great fun shop,’ and that’s what we want to create there.”

Published on December 5, 2017 at 10:45 pm

Contact Satoshi: ssugiyam@syr.edu | @SatoshiJournal