This is Davis Vincent, a U.S. Navy veteran and genius behind the crazy and one-of-a-kind flavors at Zuri’s Donutz in Lynnwood. No flavor is off limits to Davis — you’ll find creative flavors like horchata, chili mango, and Bailey’s apple fritter when you come to Zuri’s Donutz. Davis also makes a point to give back to the community, and has donated food to first responders in Edmonds, Lynnwood, Snohomish, and at Swedish Hospital throughout the pandemic.
Get to know Davis in this week’s Q&A as he talks about how he started as a self-taught baker, why he thinks it’s important to #SpendLikeItMatters, and his creative process when he makes his inventive donuts.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What’s something your customers may not know about you or your business?
I am a United States Navy veteran, and I am a self-taught baker. I started baking in my mom’s kitchen when I was at least a teen, and she would always bake cakes for her boyfriend at the time. I started baking cakes, and he stopped asking her to bake them and started asking me to bake them [he laughs]. There’s always some kind of sweet craving that you’re craving that no one will understand but you. And you won’t [satisfy] it until you make it for yourself.
Why is it important to you and your business that people #SpendLikeItMatters?
Having small businesses and being able to talk to local owners, pick their brain, and just enjoy what they’re providing to the community is way more satisfying. Keeping small businesses around and spending your money there to support them is what should matter to everybody. Small businesses are the community. They are the reason you go out of the house for five minutes. They are the pleasant face you’ll see helping you out with whatever you’re going to buy.
As a business owner, what’s the strangest or craziest idea you’ve ever tried?
Every idea [is the craziest]. It’s hard to pick one when it seems like no one else is taking the experimental risk when it comes to taste. It could be anything — it’s me going to different markets and going to these local businesses and buying things and making donuts out of them. That’s how I came across ube inside an Asian market in Everett. I took them home, baked with them and realized, “Why does it taste so sweet?” And then converted them into four different donuts. I’ll even experiment with hot mustard — I don’t have a boundary line. Pretty much everything I do like is one ladder rung broke below me, and I keep going up.
