Da Vinci's Donuts - Customer Highlight

Featuring Melissa Rudd, Creator/Owner

Da Vinci's Donuts – proudly serving the Atlanta area delicious donuts since 2014

Melissa and her husband, Andy Rudd, opened the first Da Vinci's Donuts shop in Alpharetta, Georgia. After the immediate success of the first location, they soon opened a second in Sandy Springs. Da Vinci’s now has four locations including their franchise locations in Dunwoody and in Buckhead (located on the Lenox Square Mall property in a 40-foot repurposed shipping container). They plan to open three more stores by summer 2019.

Melissa grew up making donuts with her mom and continues the family tradition at home with her sons. Prior to opening the first store, Melissa bought a donut machine and tested her mom’s recipes at home, passing out samples for neighbors to enjoy. And, as they say, the rest is history.

Da Vinci's Donuts Interior

Donuts, please!

The donuts at Da Vinci’s are made from scratch each morning. In fact, donuts left over at the end of the day are donated and a fresh batch is made the next day.

The donuts at Da Vinci’s are not traditional cake-like donuts. Melissa wanted them to taste more like her mom’s, which are a lighter and fluffier, beignet-style confection. Their smaller-sized and lighter donuts are available in many tasty flavors, including the top-selling maple bacon, salted caramel, dulce de leche, French toast, lemon bar and cinnamon sugar, just to name a few. With the modest-size donut yet abundant toppings, customers can enjoy a treat with higher satisfaction and less guilt than traditional donuts. Gluten free? You got it! There are gluten-free options available. Customers can also customize their own combination of toppings by selecting one icing, two toppings and a drizzle from among hundreds of options. The possibilities are endless!

Donuts are available by the single, four and eight count. The business box – which includes a variety of 16 of their most popular flavors – is perfect for your next meeting or family gathering.

Melissa wants her customers to feel like they are in her home kitchen, not a restaurant. At Da Vinci’s, customers can see the entire process – from frying and topping to displaying the donuts.

“Part of what I love is getting to know my customers. I love when families tell me that bringing in their kids and out-of-town guests is a tradition,” says Melissa. “Food is sharing, food is love. So, we try make a connection between food and family.”

ACityDiscount makes opening new locations a seamless process.

ACityDiscount’s Krista and Brian join the Da Vinci’s “team” as foodservice advisors

As a newbie in the foodservice industry, Melissa turned to her friends for suggestions on where to start. Someone suggested she stop by the ACityDiscount showroom in Norcross. Krista Haynes, Showroom Supervisor, and Brian Dufries, Sales Rep, guided Melissa through the process of purchasing the necessary items for her donut shop. Items included a commercial ice maker, Blentec blender, Kitchen Aid stand mixer, sheet pan racks, food pans and much more.

Melissa’s favorite thing about shopping with ACityDiscount is that future franchisees can bring the Da Vinci’s Donuts list of equipment and supplies to the showroom or online and secure everything they need from ACityDiscount, making the opening of a new location a seamless process.

Da Vinci's Donuts Lenox

Da Vinci's Donuts container store located at Lenox Square in Buckhead, GA.

Family Friendly Atomosphere

Davinci's cutomers bring in family from out of town, spend quality time and share delicious treats.

Freshly-made donuts daily

All donuts are made fresh daily and any leftovers are donated. There are a variety of 16 different flavors from which to choose.

A wide variety of flavors

Customers can also customize thier own donuts and pick 1 icing, two toppings and a drizzle.