Fresh doughnuts find happy customers

For Wauconda resident Jim Bianca, doughnuts are practically their own food group.

Actually, his favorite foods are doughnuts, hot dogs and ice cream.

“He said, ‘If I can find a business that incorporates all three of those, I’ll be the happiest guy,” Jim’s wife, Zulma, said. “I said, ‘OK. Well, we’ll have one at least.’”

Bianca has created a mobile doughnut business called Jimmy’s Bag O’ Donuts. He uses a doughnut machine and vends his product at farmers markets across the suburbs.

He and his wife are discovering that more people find fresh doughnuts a favorite food, he said.

“The doughnuts are still hot in the bag. When was the last time someone had a hot doughnut?” Bianca said. “They will say, ‘We smelled you a block away.’ That is part of the catch. The smell grabs them. Taste keeps them coming back.”

Bianca first learned about selling mini doughnuts from his brother-in-law, Jack Mikolay, whose son Ethan brought some home from a school event. This led to Mikolay starting his own business, Mik’s Tasty Bites. Bianca supported his brother-in-law by working with him at farmers markets.

Then last June, Bianca and his wife discovered Zulma’s job with a nonprofit association was being restructured to part-time. Worried about future financial trouble, he recalled the doughnut business.

“I worked with [Jack], and I saw what was involved,” Bianca said. “I thought this was something we could do. And he was making pretty good money for a Saturday at the market.”

Bianca decided to start like his brother-in-law. He began at the winter farmers market in Grayslake.

“We figured if we can make doughnuts in 20 degrees, we can make them anywhere,” he said.

Using a mix provided by a company called Lil’ Orbits, Bianca makes all of his doughnuts fresh.

The process of making 1,500 doughnuts one day is worth watching, Zulma Bianca said.

“We’ve seen – and it’s funny – that not just kids but grown-up adults get captivated watching these little things,” she said.

The couple’s most popular doughnut flavor is cinnamon sugar, but they also offer frosted, chocolate, vanilla, maple, strawberry and banana.

While some customers may keep healthy eating in mind and buy only a half dozen doughnuts for $2.50 or a dozen for $3.50 during one visit, the potential exists for even more to be bought at one time, Bianca said.

“We recommend people take home a few bags and put them in the freezer,” he said. “We’ll take out a bag or two and put them in the oven.”

Among the biggest fans of the business are the Biancas’ daughters, 2-year-old Ava and 21-year-old Gina.

“We think she could eat about a dozen,” Zulma said of Ava.” “She can’t stop. She loves them.”

The Biancas will keep busy this summer, bringing Jimmy’s Bag O’ Donuts to the Grayslake summer farmers market that runs from 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays through October in Grayslake. They also plan to work Saturdays at the Palatine market and Sundays at the Buffalo Grove market.

And the markets are only a starting point for Jimmy’s Bag O’ Donuts. Bianca said he also wants to cater private and public events. He and his wife recently handed out 5,500 doughnuts at a three-day event.

“We’re not married just to farmers markets,” Bianca said.

The Biancas credit their success to support from their friends and their church, Harvest Bible Chapel in Lake Zurich, which loans them a trailer to use at the farmers markets.

Among the supporters is Brian Baldini, who has known Bianca for 30 years and works alongside him at the markets.

“I think he’s going to continue to grow,” said Baldini. “He’s not afraid.”

While Bianca loves doughnuts, making the treats at markets can be tiring, he said. After all, he also has worked full time for 17 years as a maintenance supervisor at a Wheeling apartment complex.

“Sometimes I’m beat, but we’re doing it with a goal in mind to be more financially stable,” he said. “With any business, it takes time.”

But Bianca and his wife hope young and old will come discover their doughnuts. And Bianca hopes that one day he can sell his favorite food for a living.

“I would love to see Jimmy’s Bag O’ Donuts in a storefront somewhere,” he said. “That would be the end result of becoming well known in the community.”

Want to learn more?

For more information about Jimmy's Bag O' Donuts, call Jim Bianca at 847-980-7460, e-mail him at  j.bianca@comcast.net or visit jimmysbagodonuts.com.