Peachey’s Baking Co. started selling hand-crafted doughnuts at Sarasota’s Phillippi Farmhouse Market in 2009. Nate and Nicole Peachey’s business quickly blossomed to include several food trucks that were frequently greeted by long lines of hungry customers at festivals and state fairs from Florida to Minnesota.
“We would go to North Carolina, New York, Minnesota, Iowa state fairs during the summer,” Nate Peachey told the Herald-Tribune. The state fair circuit started in 2011 and continued for more than a decade.
Shortly after the birth of their daughter in 2024, they wanted to establish deeper roots.
“We wanted to be more involved in our local community,” Peachey said. “It wasn’t great traveling so much anymore, so we cut back on the fairs.”
Last May, the first brick-and-mortar Peachey’s Baking Co. shop opened at 4800 S. Tamiami Trail in the Landings shopping center.
Less than 10 months later the second location has been satisfying customers in Unit E at 999 Cattlemen Road during a soft opening.
Peachey’s will host a grand opening March 13-14 at the Cattlemen Road location that will include customer giveaways.
What makes Peachey’s in Sarasota unique?
Peachey’s light and fluffy doughnuts and oversized savory soft pretzels are made on-site — either in a store or at a food truck — and, in many cases, are still warm when served to appreciative customers.
“Our entire business model is serving fresh products,” Peachey said.
All the recipes are made from scratch with flour, sugar, salt, eggs, milk and butter.
“On a Saturday, when we’re lined up, it should be warm,” he said. “If it’s not hot, it was made within an hour — even on the slow days, everything’s been made within an hour.
“Our model is based on using our old Amish heritage recipes we mix together in the shop in small batches and it’s served fresh,” he added.
Both the Landings and Cattlemen Road shops feature large open kitchens. It’s possible to watch someone carve out identical portions of dough with a cup and hand form the doughnut ring.
Then the doughnuts float on hot oil and are then flipped with a birch wood doughnut stick.
“It’s cooked really fast, maybe 2½ to 3 minutes per side and it’s done,” Peachey said. “That makes it a little bit crispy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside.”
Pretzels are handmade as well, then baked.
“A pretzel is more of a chewy product,” Peachey said. After they’re baked, the pretzels are drier than the doughnut. “But our pretzels get dipped in butter after they’re baked, it helps with the dryness.
“They’ll have a nice salty, buttery exterior.”
What doughnut sells the best?
The original vanilla glazed doughnut is the most popular seller but the chocolate ganache and snickerdoodle — with its cinnamon sugar and sprinkles — both have a loyal following, as do the pretzels.
Glazed doughnut lattes — sweetened with the vanilla glazed doughnut icing — are popular in coffee sales, Peachey added.
What’s next?
Peachey said he anticipates adding other brick-and-mortar shops but each one will have its own kitchen where doughnuts and pretzels will be made on location.
Meanwhile, because of the tables and chairs, Peachey’s Baking Co. has transformed into a coffee shop serving coffee from Durham, North Carolina-based Counter Culture Coffee.
Counter Culture also offers barista training to Peachey’s employees.
Some customers come for the coffee and indoor seating but don’t always order doughnuts and pretzels.
The Landings shop already includes outdoor seating. The Cattlemen Road store, which has a large bay door at the back parking lot, may someday feature outdoor seating with tables and umbrellas once the parking is built out.
In addition to traditional doughnuts and pretzels, Peachey’s may soon offer cream-filled doughnuts.
More brick-and-mortar stores should eventually open.
Peachey said the company will scale back but not leave the fair circuit because that’s how the company built its success and it’s enjoyable summer work.
“The weather is a little different in Minneapolis in the summer compared to Sarasota,” he added.
If you go
Peachey’s Baking Co. is open from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. — or everything sells out — Tuesday through Saturday at 4800 S. Tamiami Trail and 999 Cattlemen Road in Sarasota.
The local food truck is open from 7 a.m. to noon Saturdays at Crowder Bros. Ace Hardware, 2401 Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, Lakewood Ranch.
The original vanilla glazed doughnuts, chocolate ganache doughnuts and snickerdoodle doughnuts and one specialty doughnut are typically on sale every day, as well as pretzels and coffee.
The grand opening festivities will occur March 13-14 at 999 Cattlemen Road. For more information, visit peacheysbakingco.com.
Earle Kimel primarily covers south Sarasota County as well as land development and environmental issues for the Herald-Tribune. Follow him on Facebook, and X. He can be reached by email at earle.kimel@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Popular doughnut shop opens second Sarasota location
Reporting by Earle Kimel, Sarasota Herald-Tribune / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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