New Bakery, Coffee Shop Open for Business

Daniel Parkinson learned the basics of doughnut-making while working at Dunkin' Donuts during college. 

A chemist by trade, Parkinson, 43, of Horsham, said he has thought about running his own doughnut and coffee shop for the last two or three years. On Tuesday, Parkinson was able to make his doughnut-making dream a reality with the opening of Horsham Donuts, 316 Horsham Road, within the Boxwood Shopping Center on Horsham Road. 

"We’re going to offer everything from French cruller, to cake and yeast-risen," Parkinson said of the 16 to 20 varieties he and his other two bakers will be making for the business, which will be open from 5 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. "It's kind of limitless." 

Parkinson estimated that he would have 400 or 500 doughy treats on display for Tuesday's opening. Eventually, he said he'd like to sell 2,000 doughnuts a day.

Horsham Donuts' specialty, he said, is a jelly doughnut filled with either fresh strawberry or raspberry preserves. 

Besides doughnuts made fresh daily, Parkinson said he'll also be serving bagels, "made-from-scratch" breakfast sandwiches and eventually muffins and cupcakes. Special occasion cakes could be available in the future, he said. 

"Right now I’m just focused on getting the doughnuts out," he said. 

And, since some would argue that you can't have a doughnut without coffee, Horsham Donuts' other signature offerings are going to be coffee, espresso made from a traditional manual machine, as well as "fancy iced drinks" and teas, he said. 

The business will be "equal parts coffee and doughnuts," he said, adding that he settled on the name Horsham Donuts for "simplicity sake." Coffee will come from Audubon-based Cafe Excellence, which he said offers a "very gourmet brand, very high quality coffee."

Parkinson, who told Patch that he did not want to brag, promised that his coffee would be "at least as good as Starbucks," but would retail closer to Wawa's prices. Like Wawa, the coffees would be self-serve at the four-seat Horsham Donuts, Parkinson said. 

So, what made this chemist experiment with a new career recipe for success?

"I’m tired of bad doughnuts and bad coffee," Parkinson said.