Utah now has one more place to get a sweet treat, and it’s the first location of its kind outside of Southern California.
From Southern California to Utah
Sidecar Doughnuts expanded operations with a new location in Salt Lake City this week. It’s the chain’s first location outside of Southern California.
The specialty doughnut shop offers up tantalizing bites like the huckleberry cake doughnut, as well as a vanilla bean frosted raised doughnut.
Everything — from the dough to the glazes to the toppings — is made in-house and fresh from scratch.
“We know people in Salt Lake City love sweets,” said founder Sumter Pendergrast. “So we wanted to bring the freshest, best doughnuts in the world to Salt Lake City.”
Why Salt Lake City? Pendergrast said there’s already a level of brand awareness that Utahns have about the Sidecar Doughnuts, with a strong connection between Utah and Southern California. One of the reasons for that is Utahns’ pronounced fondness for Disneyland.
The origins of Sidecar Doughnuts
Pendergrast said he used to go to doughnut and coffee shops and think, “This could be better.” So he made it his mission to “revolutionize how people experience doughnuts.”
What sets Sidecar Doughnuts apart? The doughnuts are baked in small batches to ensure freshness for each bite.
“We make everything in house,” Pendergrast said. “Every glaze, every topping, every filling, everything’s in house.”
Before founding Sidecar Doughnuts, Pendergrast was in the clothing business. But he loved coffee, and he bought a coffee roaster to use for special events. He also got a mini doughnut machine and took it and the roaster to a party, and he said that “people went crazy over it.”
It sparked an idea to improve on the doughnut eating experience.
“Doughnuts are just American classic food,” he said. “It’s just a classic thing that people in the United States always go to. They have memories of doughnuts and I thought, there’s more you could do with it.”
The doughnuts are a premium product at a premium price — they average about $4 a pop, but Pendergrast said he finds that people think it’s worth it when they taste that hot and fresh doughnut for the first time.
“Obviously, we think it’s worth it, because everything’s made from scratch, and they’re hot and fresh, and it takes a lot of labor to do it,” Pendergrast said.
What I ordered
I stopped by the former location for By The Bucket: Hot Spaghetti To Go! in Sugar House to try out the famous doughnuts for the first time.
People were lined up out the door and onto the sidewalk in the January frigid cold.
I was pretty cold by the time I got inside to order, but it made that first bite into a hot and fresh raised vanilla bean glazed doughnut even better.
It was dense and gooey in the best way possible.
Then I tasted the fan-favorite cake doughnuts — butter & salt, as well as the huckleberry. I’m not usually a big fan of cake doughnuts, but these ones were delicious. They were cakey and dripping with flavor.
Next time I go back, I really want to try the maple bacon.
“It really is a life-changing experience when you have a hot, fresh doughnut for the first time,” Pendergrast said.
Storefront information
- Address: 701 E. 2100 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84106
