Byrd’s House of Donuts was started by Issac Thomas Byrd, Sr. (Tommy) and his son, Issac Thomas Byrd, Jr (Thomas). Mr. Byrd had a longstanding career of 25 years in the woodworking industry managing dimension mills, cabinet factories, and moulding factories. His son, Thomas, had some prior experience in fast food management, however neither had made a donut before opening the shop in 2016.
The business grew overnight, forcing Tommy to quit his regular job after just a few months. The next year, the duo moved downtown where the company grew even more, eventually purchasing the building after only a couple of years. Although donuts are still the shop’s main product, they have expanded to include scratch-made custom cakes, pies, cookies, candies, pastries, sweet rolls, and almost any other sweet you could think of.
They’ve also added hot and cold lunch sandwiches, breakfast sandwiches, all-beef hotdogs with homemade chili, and award-winning pepperoni rolls. After the first year, the Byrd’s began assisting local schools, and other cross-county organizations through their fundraising efforts.
SHOW NOTES:
- 3:35 Tell us about Byrd’s House of Donuts.
- 4:17 How did you get started?
- 6:15 What donuts are you known for?
- 7:30 What’s your 30 second pitch?
- 8:15 What separates Byrd’s donuts from the rest?
- 9:30 Talk about your donut styles.
- 11:00 How did your previous career prepare you to own the shop?
- 13:05 What are you most excited about?
- 15:00 Where are you customers coming from?
- 16:00 Best business moment?
- 17:25 Worst business moment?
- 19:45 PWV Commercial Break
- 21:00 How long did it take from vision to conception?
- 22:00 What’s your longterm vision?
- 23:20 How do you attract new customers?
- 25:00 What challenges are you facing?
- 26:30 What else do you offer?
- 28:20 What’s a guiding principle of your leadership philosophy?
- 29:20 Piece of advice for a young person?
- 30:20 What’s one thing you do every day that contributes to your success?
- 32:00 Anything else?
- 36:25 Outro
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