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Carl's Donuts originated in 1963 in Monterrey Park California, owners Carl and Lyn Sanders saw an opportunity and took a chance. Working out of a converted garage in the Motel they owned, they thought it would be a great idea to sell homemade donuts to their guests and walk up customers. The Motel with a Donut Shop quickly gained a well-deserved reputation for quality and freshness. Customers soon began to flock to the little bakery in the garage and it wasn't long until they outgrew the humble beginnings. Searching for a home for the successful shop they got an idea to move to Las Vegas. Upon arriving in Las Vegas they found a great opportunity with a local variety store and decided to stay permanently in Fabulous Las Vegas.
Their new venture would begin inside Wonder World located on Decatur. Wonder World was a local variety store and had a large following in town. Working out of the front of the store they began to establish a following that company still enjoys today. Carl's Donuts quickly became an attraction that brought people into Wonder World increasing business for both companies. Unfortunately it also added an aroma of fresh donuts to many of the garments sold at Wonder World. Carl and Lyn were faced with a decision should they close the bakery or go out on our own. Thankfully that decision was made easier for them when the owner of Wonder World approached Carl about a new store he was opening and asked him to move the bakery to that location. Carl and Lyn graciously accepted the invitation and suddenly they had two very large customers to take care of.
It was at this point that Carl and Lyn got an idea that would change their lives and the lives of their family forever. Carl approached Lyn with an idea to sell donuts in convenience stores in Las Vegas. Carl's background in grocery store management gave him great insight into successful marketing ideas in very competitive markets. Drawing upon that background Carl went each day to every convenience store he saw with fresh donuts to offer their customers. If the stores sold the donuts Carl would return the next day with fresh donuts and a showcase built by Carl's Father Burton who was busy building them at night in the family's garage. To say it was a success would be an understatement! They could hardly keep up with the demand. Carl's Donuts has continued to prosper expanding into the wholesale delivery business serving local businesses fresh donuts for 48 years. It was Carl's vision that created an industry. He saw an opportunity to provide donuts and fresh bakery products to convenience store customers every day. Before Carl approached the local convenience stores there were no donuts in any convenience stores anywhere across the United States. Carl's vision created an industry that now serves thousands of convenience stores across the nation each day with fresh donuts and other bakery goods. He was able to show the store owners a way to increase their profits and help Carl's Donuts sell more donuts than they could with a retail bakery alone.
With the success that Carl and Lyn were now enjoying there were also growing pains as well. Carl stopped into another bakery to talk with the owner about his business one afternoon. During their conversation he discovered the business owner was from California and wanted to return. Carl offered him the motel in Monterey Park in exchange for the man's bakery and some cash. The man accepted and Carl's Donuts was now officially a local bakery with its own building for the very first time.
The bakery continued to grow adding new customers and establishing a name for the best tasting donuts in Las Vegas. Carl's Donuts quickly outgrew the little bakery that Carl had traded for. Carl and Lyn purchased a new location at 501 S Highland Drive. Their continued success and growth in business turned out to be both good and bad for the family. While they enjoyed the success of the business the added burdens that came with it sadly caused a strain that the marriage could not handle. A once beautiful marriage abruptly ended with a split. Carl returned to the hospitality industry in California and Lyn stayed in Las Vegas with the children. Rather than sell off the company she loved Lyn decided to purchase the company from Carl. Lyn along with her children spent the next 20 years serving the community hot fresh bakery items from the Highland Drive store. In 1997 customers named Carl's Donuts to the Best of Las Vegas for the best donuts in town.
After 20 great years at the South Highland location Carl's Donuts needed to move again, this time to a 25 thousand square foot facility on Sunset Corporate Drive. The brand new facility allowed for continued growth but sadly the retail operations that had been the foundation of the business ceased. Carl's Donuts now has over 500 customers serving the Las Vegas Community over 23 million donuts in 2013. Under the direction of a new management team comprised of second generation family members. Carl's son Keith Sanders, Carl's daughter Ranee Ramsay, and son in law David Ramsay Carl's Donuts future looks brighter than ever. Plans to expand to other area's are in the works along with a return to the retail business in the near future.
Carl's Donuts is famous for their sour cream old fashion donut and the handmade apple fritter. As with many of the products that Carl's makes the process is still done by hand and made fresh daily. As many of our competitors bring machine made mass produced products to the consumer Carl's Donuts takes pride in providing Las Vegas with quality products at a reasonable price each and every day. With this commitment to quality Carl's Donuts looks forward to continued growth and many more years of serving the Las Vegas community.
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