Brandy Cantrell picks out four-dozen doughnuts for a customer at Tasty Daylight Donuts in Dalton, Ga.• Name: Tasty Daylight Donuts
• Location: Two shops are already up and running in Dalton, Ga., with another opening in East Brainerd at 1414 Jenkins Road.
• Contact: 706-876-0071 for the 1806 S. Dixie Highway location, 706-529-0072 for the 1293 N. Glenwood Ave. store
• Products: Daylight Donuts rotates through about 200 doughnut varieties as tame as glazed and as wild as banana split and pina colada. The doughnuts are baked fresh daily in the shop. At full steam, a kitchen can crank out 90 hot doughnuts an hour. The shops also offer specialty-roasted coffee and espresso drinks.
• Age: Daylight has been in the area for about three years, but franchises have served doughnuts nationally since 1954.
• Startup investment: Opening a new Tasty Daylight Donuts franchise costs well over $250,000, according to local owner Tony McInnis.
• Target market: Daylight is targeting middle- to upper-middle income commuters in the East Brainerd area. The chain sought out a location with a drive through on the way to the interestate for a large number of people. "We're looking for people that appreciate quality and appreciate variety and creativity," McInnis said.
• Biggest hurdle: The shop does about 70 percent of its business before 10 a.m., so finding a location easily accessible to commuters before they hit the interstate was the most important and most difficult challenge to opening the new location.
• Biggest reward: McInnis decided to go into the doughnut business because of its fun, creative atmosphere. "People are genuinely happy when they get their coffee and doughnut," he said.
• Lesson learned: McInnis said he has learned to adapt to ever-shifting customer patterns. For example, there's a 20 percent drop in customers when school is out for the summer, and weather affects traffic.
• Five-year goal: McInnis hopes to open three more area stores by 2016.