After 25 years as a doughnut destination in Ellisville, The Donut Palace is expanding with a second location at 3751 S. Lindbergh in Sunset Hills, with a grand opening slated for early March. Co-owners Ann and Steve Saldin, who live in the area, believe the space is an ideal location to expand, with limited locally owned doughnut shops nearby. “We saw an opportunity to bring a product that isn’t as readily available,” says Ann.
The Menu
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Customers can expect the same offerings as the Ellisville location, including the popular chocolate long johns and apple fritters, as well as Kaldi’s coffee.
The new location has a substantially larger kitchen than the flagship, allowing production for both locations to take place in the Sunset Hills location. The Ellisville kitchen’s limited space and equipment required the daily batch of donuts to be made in shifts, with some offerings coming out at different times. At the Sunset Hills location, however, everything will be produced simultaneously.
“We’re updating the equipment, but we’re still making the doughnuts from scratch,” says co-owner Ann Saladin. “We chop the fritters. We make our own icings. We make the chocolate and vanilla fluff.”
The Location
The building will share space with a Jimmy John’s location, which the Saldins also oversee. The doughnut shop’s interior currently matches the white, black, and red accents of the sandwich shop chain. Limited seating options will be available including a large communal table, a counter at the front of the store, and leather lounge-style chairs.
The store will be open from 6 a.m.–noon Wednesday through Sunday or when they sell out. Online ordering is also expected within a few weeks of opening, with customers able to make preorders.
The Background
Before purchasing the original Donut Palace location, in 2018, Ann was a teacher at Parkway West High School, and Steve operated several Jimmy John’s locations in the area. “We were customers first,” Ann says. “We’ve been owners since 2018, just about six years, in time for the pandemic.”
Like most businesses, the pandemic had a profound impact on the business, with bulk orders from churches and schools decreasing during the shutdown. Enter Barstool Sports CEO Dave Portnoy, who started the Barstool Fund to help support businesses during the pandemic. After Ann and Steve’s daughter, Nora, suggested they submit a video application, Portnoy called Ann himself to share the good news. “I’m still a little bit speechless about it,” Ann recalls. “It was such an amazing phone call to get and such an amazing thing Portnoy did.”
The assistance helped the business endure the past several years and, eventually, plan for expansion to the Sunset Hills location. “Opening this store is not without a lot of work,” says Ann, “but it finally feels like we’re going to be on the other side of the pandemic.”
