Frost had a good June.
The Mill Creek business billed as a dessert lounge opened a second location in downtown Everett. And the company started selling its doughnuts and pastries at one of the cafes at Amazon in downtown Seattle.
“We’ve made a name for ourselves and that’s cool,” said Del Hernandez, one of three owners of the business.
Add in the original shop and the four Microsoft cafes that sells Frost doughnuts and pastries and it’s a been a good run for the business.
Between the shops and the Microsoft and Amazon cafes, Frost makes 3,000 doughnuts a day and 9,000 each Saturday and Sunday. The business employs 40 people.
Frost is planning on opening a third location, this one in King County. Hernandez declined to discuss the details of the new site, because the lease was still being negotiated.
“We set up this small shop and that’s what we thought we were going to be,” Hernandez said. “It’s grown very quickly beyond our expectations. We didn’t think we would be where we’re at now at the beginning.”
Frost first opened six years ago on July 10, 2009. The three founders grew up in California. Daniel Sterling, 43, and Paul Goetz, 44, went to the same high school. After school, Sterling became friends with Hernandez, 41, in Santa Monica at a telecommunications company where they worked together.
All three ended up moving to Mill Creek. Hernandez worked for nine years in real estate. Sterling worked for Amazon, Microsoft and Vulcan. (“For all of the Seattle billionaires,” Hernandez joked.) And Goetz worked for Ticketmaster.
The trio wanted to venture out on their own.
“We all live in the area and we tried to figure out a business to open in the Mill Creek Town Center, because we’re all entrepreneurs at heart,” Hernandez said. “We realized that there wasn’t a doughnut shop here at the time.”
Sterling came up with the idea for a Salted Caramel Old Fashioned Doughtnut and they were off and running. Hernandez had some experience — his family owned a bakery when he was a kid. They leased a space in the Mill Creek Town Center near the Central Market and called the original shop Frost Doughnuts.
Two years ago, Hernandez competed in the Cooking Channel’s “Doughnut Showdown,” which pits three doughnut makers each episode against each other. Frost won the competition and a $10,000 prize.
Last year, Frost moved to a larger location at 15217 Main St., still in the Mill Creek Town Center. With the move, Frost dropped ‘doughnuts’ from its name because it started offering cupcakes, specialty cakes and the now trendy French macarons.
“It’s really taking the nation by storm,” Hernandez said of macarons. “It’s popping up everywhere.”
The best thing about their macarons is the treat is made with almond flour, which makes it gluten-free. That and a couple of gluten-free cupcakes give customers options who would otherwise steer away from the shop’s doughnuts.
A couple months after the move, they started selling doughnuts and pastries at the Microsoft campus when one of the company’s executives noticed the shop and contacted them.
The salted caramel old fashioned still one of their best sellers. But their absolute best is the Smoky Bacon Maple Bars.
“We go over a thousand pounds a month,” Hernandez said of the amount of baked they cook. “That’s 300 pounds a week or about 1,200 pounds a month.”
Frost had been looking for a second location for quite some time, said Nate Meinhold, the company’s marketing and administration assistant. They pounced when a storefront came open at 2811 B Colby Ave., the location of the former Bite Me Cupcakes in downtown Everett.
“The health department gave us the OK to open on Monday and we opened it on Tuesday,” Meinhold said.
Now, the business bakes the cupcakes and macarons in Everett and cooks the doughnuts in Mill Creek. Then the business does a dessert exchange, bringing doughnuts north and pastries south.
Frost plans on holding a grand opening for the Everett location in July, but details were still being worked out.
“What we like to say is we’re trying to make Everett a sweeter place,” Hernandez said. “It’s an upcoming place. It looks great, lots of things are happening there and we want to be part of that growth and see Everett grow.”
Popular treats
Here are the five best-selling doughtnuts by Frost, which labels itself as a dessert lounge with locations in Mill Creek and Everett.
1. Smoky Bacon Maple Bar
2. Salted Caramel Old Fashioned
3. Marcona Almond and Tart Cherry Bismark
4. Red Velvet
5. Peanut Butter Perfection Bismark
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