Dallas will soon be home to a new kind of doughnut shop, specializing in mini doughnuts with fillings and toppings, custom-made right before your eyes. Called The Dapper Doughnut, it's a chain from Las Vegas whose first DFW location will open at the Galleria Dallas in mid-February.
Founded by brothers Jeff and Brian Pappas, who grew up in New York eating freshly made doughnuts, Dapper is a custom concept that makes bite-size mini doughnuts to order. A machine pops out the batter which cooks up into mini doughnuts, maybe 2 to 3 bites depending on your degree of gluttony.
You specify the quantity; they're sold in batches of 6 for $5. Then choose a topping from 14 options such as powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, s'mores, and chocolate sprinkle.
Unlike the fluffy raised doughnuts served at chains such as Krispy Kreme, Dapper's doughnuts are "cake style," with a texture that's light, moist, and slightly crunchy.
There are nearly two dozen Dappers across the country in the works; some are kiosks at malls, others such as the outlets in Frisco and Houston are food trucks.
The Dallas location is from Brooke and Leo Sanchez, two former Dallas ISD teachers who wanted their own business.
"After we tasted the doughnuts, we knew it was something we wanted to do, because they're amazing," Brooke says. "We also liked that it was this entire experience. It's not just, you come in and buy a doughnut. It's the interactive part of ordering the toppings and seeing the doughnuts made in front of you, served fresh and hot."
Interactivity is a big trend right now with concepts such as the rolled ice cream places that are sweeping DFW.
At Dapper, in addition to doughnuts, you can also get your doughnut mixed up into a doughnut milkshake; or doughnut truffles, dipped in chocolate.
Opening at the Galleria made sense, and not merely because Dapper likes its malls, but because of the shop's location across from the Galleria's famed ice-skating rink.
"We have the doughnuts, but we also do very good coffee and hot chocolate," Brooke says. "It just seemed like a perfect fit, to go skating and then come and get freshly made doughnuts and hot chocolate."
