Goodbye Vincent Van Doughnut, You'll be Missed
- bexbecasting
- Apr 16
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 17
So I have to be honest, since I moved away from St. Louis, I haven't been the best at checking in on my hometown.
But this past weekend, while doomscrolling, I came across a business I knew. Imagine my surprise to find out Vincent Van Doughnut switched owners, their current owner had a mental health crisis that caused him to shut down for six months, and to quote SpongeBob, "you know what else, else? " due to an emotional crash, they were permanently closing.
It was a lot of information to take in all at once. Regardless, it made me really sad. Vincent Van Doughnut prided itself on having eclectic artisanal doughnut flavors. However, as a current coffee shop owner, I completely understand. Today I was talking to one of the staff members at Cafe Ghostie and asked her if she ever worried about the business, to which she said, "Not so much the business as I do you."
Talk to most coffee shop owners, and they will tell you they are putting in about 60-80 hours a week in their business. That's a huge time investment, and let's not forget the financial investment. What people don't realize about coffee shops is that we are only making 5-15% back on each drink sold after factoring in the costs of rent, payroll, supplies, electricity, water, etc., it isn't a lot. Most of us do it because we love it and want to build community. This is all to say, I understand the toll it can take on a person.
Back in my broadcasting career, we collaborated with Vincent Van Doughnut to create video content. Many moons ago, I worked at 105.7 The Point. For many years, Lux was the only personality on the station who was a woman. However, in 2016, I joined her, as did Nina Blanco before being moved to the now-defunct Now 96.3. Lern at the time was at KSHE 95, and Rachel Zimmerman on KMOX. So much girl power across the stations Emmis Communications owned. Buzzfeed was in its infancy, and I had the idea of, what if we try to do something similar to what they do, but local. Thus, Off the Air- WTF: With the Females was born. We only recorded four episodes, but it helped drive traffic to the website, which was the intention. I mean, who wouldn't want to watch cute girls do silly things?
So I bid you farewell, Vincent Van Doughnut. Thank you for the creative support, the delicious doughnuts, and the laughs.
Comments