This food spot in Makati City is where you can get the doughnuts of your dreams

The secret is in the dough

What’s round, sweet, with a cute hole in the middle? Doughnut. For years, this fried dessert has been one of the top comfort food loved by many all over the world. What started out as a Dutch dish for special occasions became such a diners’ favorite that it garnered two special days in the calendar dedicated to celebrating its goodness. With many Filipinos being natural sweet tooths, doughnuts didn’t find it hard to secure a place in every Pinoy foodie's heart. Everywhere you look, a doughnut is present in Manila. But if you’re looking for something more special, there’s a food spot in Makati City that is ready to satisfy your doughnut hunger.

Established in May 2022, Founders Donuts is fast becoming a paradise for local doughnut-loving foodies. Led by RP Argonza and Christopher Estacion, the doughnut shop was born out of Founders Café Incorporated, a workshop café focused mostly on business workshops and consultancy founded in 2019. Prior to the pandemic, it offered workshops for coffee, tea, pizza, ramen, marketing, and business operations. But when COVID-19 arrived in the Philippines, the two leaders decided to center their business on a single product. Then, Founders Donuts entered the scene. 

“I remember how RP used to brag about just how good his doughnuts were and challenged him to make them again,” Christopher tells Manila Bulletin Lifestyle. “Upon tasting the doughnuts and seeing other people's reactions and feedback, we decided to make doughnuts the core product of our café.”

With many doughnut brands present in the metro, Founders Donuts is tasked to make its product outstanding—and they did. According to Christopher, the secret lies in the dough they are using. In order to make it, RP uses two kinds of flour for every batch.

“When RP was designing the dough, he made sure that it has to be soft and, at the same time, has to have a bite,” Christopher says. “We are very proud of this dough because it is not easy to achieve the right amount of softness and bite that people have been raving about our doughnuts.”

After having the perfect canvas, the duo went on to formulate the best flavors. Currently, Founders Donuts features 12 flavors—Classic Glazed, Matcha Green Tea, Chocolate Frosted, Strawberry Candy, Oreo Dream, White Chocolate Sprinkles, Chocolate Sprinkles, Nutty Nutella, Biscoff Tiramisu, Coffee Almonds, Triple Chocolate Crunch, and Creal Donut. The Manila Bulletin Lifestyle team got the chance to taste the brand’s doughnut creations. One of our favorites is the Chocolate Frosted, which highlights the brand’s special dough, made more decadent with its chocolate coating. Creamy, sweet, and a tad earthy is the Matcha Green Tea. While the Cereal Donut and Biscoff Tiramisu are deliciously unconventional and perfect for the Gram.

“We believe what makes our doughnuts special is the way we design our flavors. Unlike other doughnut shops that you know, which only have one or two crowd favorites, we made sure that our lineup will be strong from one through 12,” Christopher says. “ that 'less is more.' In designing each of our doughnuts, we made sure that we focused more on the quality of the product. That each variant should taste exactly or very close to the flavor.”

Among the key elements that helped Founders Donuts gain online popularity are its patrons. Instead of the brand telling how good its products are, they leave it to its customers who are happy to share their experience. 

“Chris’ strategy with Founders Donuts was very simple—to have as many people as possible try our doughnuts and let them say what they like about our products,” RP says. “We then asked these people if it was okay that we quote them on what they have to say and, eventually, organic word of mouth began spreading about our doughnuts.”

Apart from the doughnuts, what diners should miss trying from the cafe are its milk tea creations—Assam, Ceylon, Oolong, Tieguanyin, Sun Moon Lake, and Jasmine tea. What makes them unique is that every order is freshly brewed thanks to its “tea blender.”

“We have a special machine called a 'tea blender' that allows us to extract strong freshly brewed tea in minutes, which we then use as the base for each milk tea ordered,” Christopher says. 

While the brand currently thrives by producing 1,000 to 1,200 pieces of doughnuts daily, its goal is to double its product before the year ends or in early 2023 to take its business up a notch. Christopher and RP also aim to introduce their doughnut creations beyond the country’s capital by opening branches in Visayas and Mindanao by 2024. 

With Founder Donuts' special eats and mission to make its mark in the local food scene, it looks like the future of doughnut feasting in the Philippines is as bright and sweet as its Strawberry Candy doughnut.

Founders Donuts is located along Zobel Roxas St. in Makati City. Visit its official Instagram page to know more about its offerings.

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