Downtown Hillsdale is getting its own bakery.
Located at the corner of McCollum Street and North Broad Street, Ethan’s Donut Factory is under construction. It is set to open by the end of the year according to Wayne Babcock, house director of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and one of the business’s five investors.
Babcock is the founder of multiple Jonesville restaurants: Olivia’s Chop House, Saucy Dogs Barbecue, and Chicago Water Grill. He is working with four other local business owners to open Ethan’s Donut Factory: Matt Taylor, Darin Spieth, Sean Bondra, and Richard Moore.
The shop will provide custom made-to-order donuts with a variety of toppings for customers to choose from, Babcock said. Other sweets like cookies, brownies, and hard scoop ice cream will also be available. Babcock said the owners plan to cater sweets for events like birthdays and weddings.
“Our main claim to fame is going to be the custom-made donuts,” Babcock said.
Babcock said Moore and Spieth originally came up with the idea for the shop after discussing ways to invest in downtown Hillsdale, and then brought Babcock, Bondra, and Taylor in.
“We’re all friends, we’re all business people in the community, and just one day everyone got a bright idea to do a business together. And we came up with, ‘What does downtown Hillsdale need?’” Babcock said. “We came up with the idea of a sweet bakery.”
He said, though, that he is taking more of a lead on the project since he has a background in the restaurant business. Babcock added that the shop is named after his son, Ethan, while Olivia’s Chop House is named after his daughter, Olivia.
Griffiths Mechanical, a local HVAC company, is helping construct Ethan’s Donut Factory along with Foulke Construction, another local company.
“We’re doing the HVAC side, so all the kitchen stuff, that’s all us, and the heating and cooling of the building,” said Ryan Griffiths, president of Griffiths Mechanical.
The company has been working on the building over the course of the summer, but Griffiths said he isn’t sure exactly when the project will be complete.
“The job could be done in a month or it could be done in six months, it depends on how fast they want to move,” he said.
Hillsdale Mayor Adam Stockford said he is anticipating the project’s completion.
“It’s been a generation since we’ve had a bakery in downtown Hillsdale, and of course I’m excited for any new business,” he said.
Senior Emily Jones said she’s looking forward to the bakery’s opening.
“I used to hate donuts but now, I’m excited, because I like donuts,” Jones said. “And it’s good because we won’t have to drive to Duncles and waste gas during inflation.”
Hillsdale College Donor Services Support Coordinator, ATO alumnus, and Hillsdale resident Jacob Carson ’23 praised Babcock and said he’s looking forward to his newest business endeavor.
“Wayne is one of the greatest men that works at Hillsdale and he has been a loving and caring chef and house father,” Carson said. “He deserves all of the success that comes to him.”
The five investors purchased the whole building but are only using part of it for Ethan’s Donut Factory. The back half, Babcock said, is being leased by a couple who is opening a brewery, set to open around the same time as the donut shop.
“And what goes better than donuts and beer? I mean, that’s everything you need in life right there,” Babcock said.
