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    Lily’s Mini Delights Brings Gluten Free Donuts to a Festival Near You

    Last August, a new mobile donut operation popped up with a unique twist: these donuts are of the gluten free variety. Lily’s Mini Delights is a self contained pop-up donut shop complete with motorized assembly line that drops the donuts into hot fryer oil and flips them out into a cooling area where they can be dusted with cinnamon and sugar before eating. The pop-up can be found at various festivals around Columbus including tonight’s Moonlight Market.

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    We spoke recently with Lily’s owner Kayo Masuda to find out more about the new mobile donut shop. Our full Q&A can be found below:

    Q: First, can you tell us a bit about your background?

    A: Although we both have great jobs working in customer service and nursing, we want to be able to impact the society around us and be able to help those in need. Unfortunately, we did not see us being able to achieve those goals just by working at our full-time jobs. One idea we had was to start a new business, scary though it was. After playing around with the idea for a few years, we finally got inspired to make the plunge into entrepreneurship after attending a conference led by Gary Keesee at the Faith Life Church in New Albany, OH. By following some of the valuable lessons learned there and by tapping into other resources Columbus provides to entrepreneurs, we made the necessary startup investments and successfully launched last August.

    Q: What got you interested in launching a donut business?

    A: What got us interested in the donut business specifically was this wonderful little donut stand in Washington D.C. Although not typically fans of fried food, some of our family members couldn’t resist going well out of their way to make weekly visits to get a bag of hot donuts, sprinkled liberally with cinnamon and sugar, made fresh on the spot. One limitation on our side though was, as a general rule, we tried to avoid foods with gluten. After searching for several months, we finally were able to find a new gluten-free mix that worked with our little donut machine and then we launched!

    Q: How has the reception been thus far? Has business been good?

    A: To put it in the words of one of our customers who needed to avoid foods with gluten, “My goodness, I haven’t had a donut in over 10 years!!” Although the reception to Lily’s Mini Delights has happily matched our own excitement with visiting the local stand in D.C., it’s even more incredible to see the joy on people’s faces when they can finally take a bite into a fresh donut without having an allergic reaction. Though the competition to get into some of Columbus’s festivals is quite fierce, business has been good in the ones we’ve been a part of so far.

    Q: What types of events have you participated in, and what other events do you plan to participate in throughout 2014?

    A: We kicked off our grand opening last year in August at the Food Truck Festival. Since then we have participated in the Columbus winter market, 400 West Rich Market, Celiac Conference at Nationwide Childrens and the Moonlight Market on Gay Street. We have quite a few markets that we will be involved with this year such as the Easton Farmers Market, Pearl Market, Moonlight Market, Franklin Conservatory Farmer’s Market and possibly more to come. We have applied to some of the bigger festivals that occur in Columbus, and are still waiting for notification whether we have been accepted. We do know that we will definitely be there for the Jazz and Rib Festival.

    Q: What is the response when people discover the donuts are gluten-free?

    A: The two most commons ones are “Wow, really?!” and “What’s gluten?”. For those of us who don’t have to avoid foods with gluten, the only requirements we have are 1. Make it fresh and 2. Don’t be shy with that sugar. On the other hand, for those of us who need to be more careful with our diet, this is one of the few places in the country that we can enjoy a gluten-free donut right out of the fryer. Though it might sound corny, when our customers get excited, buy a bag to share with their friends, and then their friends come back to get a bag of their own, that gets me excited too.

    Q: Do you have plans to eventually open a brick-and-mortar donut shop? Or just keep it mobile?

    A: Since we’re both still working full time at our current jobs, the plan for now is to keep it mobile, but we have been talking about it. But that is still down the road for us. We take our hats off to those individuals who start brick-and-mortar shops: the work you must have done to get your business off the ground is incredible!

    Q: Anything else we should know?

    A: Besides farmer’s markets and festivals, we just launched our catering services as well. Whether it is a wedding, party or other social event, check us out on Facebook or shoot us an email at [email protected]! We are also going to be launching our website very soon!

    For more info, visit www.facebook.com/LilysMiniDelights.

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    Walker Evans
    Walker Evanshttps://columbusunderground.com
    Walker Evans is the co-founder of Columbus Underground, along with his wife and business partner Anne Evans. Walker has turned local media into a full time career over the past decade and serves on multiple boards and committees throughout the community.
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