‘There’s something about doughnuts’: 13 years in, we go behind the scenes at SuzyQ

Walking up to the unassuming SuzyQ Doughnuts location on St. Laurent Boulevard, you would never guess at what lies beyond the takeout window, which harkens back to a time when COVID forced the business to come up with creative solutions to stay open.  But if you go past the takeout window and through the front […]

Walking up to the unassuming SuzyQ Doughnuts location on St. Laurent Boulevard, you would never guess at what lies beyond the takeout window, which harkens back to a time when COVID forced the business to come up with creative solutions to stay open.  But if you go past the takeout window and through the front door, you are transported to the production kitchen and into the world of doughnuts.  When I dropped by on the first day of spring, I was welcomed by the sweet smell of freshly baked doughnuts, ready to be arranged in the display case. I found SuzyQ owner Susan Hamer at the dough station, getting ready to start another batch.  As she started on the dough, measuring out levain, something similar to a sourdough starter, from a giant tub nearby, she said that she spends many of her days at the St. Laurent location, working on the dough for all three SuzyQ locations across the city.  “We make all of our dough here. We cut it here and we age our dough. We store it in the fridge after it’s been cut and then we ship it to each location raw where they proof it, fry it and glaze it at each shop,” she said.

The small corner that we’re in contains a large mixing machine and two countertops, one of which houses Hamer’s laptop, where she answers emails and places orders.  “When I find the time, I (do a) recipe test … I come in on the weekend and do some testing when nobody’s here. We’ve got a nice system here for our bakers, so we can have the weekends off. That gives me free rein of the building,” Hamer said.  I caught Hamer on one of her recipe test days. On today’s menu: dill pickle. “Today is dill pickle day and I’ve been working on that for about a week. It’s really a matter of getting the flavour right, then the method and how it’s going to be baked in the end. Is it going to be just a doughnut, or can we push the doughnut to any limit and turn it into a bagel?” she said. Inspiration for new flavours, she added, can come from anywhere: the seasons, holidays, even movies and pop culture. “We ask ourselves, ‘Can we source the ingredients easily enough?’ and then we just run it by each other. ‘Is it crazy? Is it fun?’” she said.

Despite some pushback from her exacting accountants, Hamer said she strives to use the best ingredients possible to ensure a top-quality product, even if those ingredients aren’t the most cost-efficient option. Although, with the U.S.-Canada trade war and a chocolate shortage in West Africa, Hamer said she’s had to get creative with flavours and ingredients.  “We’ve always tried to support local suppliers, especially in the summer months … We try to find the best ingredients we can afford,” she said.  Ideally, Hamer said she would love to come up with and test new flavours months in advance, like a magazine would with its next edition.  “We try to do (a full menu change) every quarter, but it’s tough to let go of the OGs, like the maple bacon. We’ll always try to come up with six to eight new flavours,” she said. 

The maple bacon, raspberry cassis and lemon thyme doughnuts, flavours that are still available today, were part of her early repertoire, she said, but the “sugar munkki” — a play on the Finnish cardamom doughnut munkki — was the one that started it all. Her son wanted to take part in his school’s craft show and had asked her to make some baked goods.  “We made all kinds of baked goods and then, at the last minute, I thought to put some doughnuts, because I grew up with the recipe. This show kind of motivated me. I’ve always been kind of entrepreneurial and I saw the public reaction and it was unlike anything I’d ever seen,” she said.  Coming from a fine arts background, Hamer had tried to sell her art, but hadn’t seen the success she had hoped for. “I tried to sell art and people were kind of lukewarm to it and I don’t think I’m that bad at art. But there’s something about doughnuts,” she said. Early support for her doughnuts led Hamer to take orders from her co-workers at Canada Post. Soon, Canada Post itself was placing orders for the whole station.  “I was up all night with my husband making doughnuts, wheeling them into the loading bay (at Canada Post),” she recalled. When Canada Post went on strike in 2011, Hamer looked for another stream of revenue and landed on selling her doughnuts at the Lansdowne Farmers’ Market. A year later, she got the courage to open her own shop, a storefront on Wellington Street West previously owned by Hintonburger. Four years later, that shop moved a few doors down. Then, the building was sold, meaning SuzyQ had to find yet another home. Oh, and COVID hit.  SuzyQ had to close up shop, as did many other businesses, and times were looking tough, Hamer said.  “We locked down for three or four months, but we knew we wouldn’t be able to survive much longer so we still followed through with the expansion and had the idea to do takeout windows. That turned out to be a brilliant plan because we were busy, if not busier than before,” she said.  “At the time of finding out about the sale of the building, we had already started talking about expanding into new shops and we actually found three locations.”  She lucked out with the St. Laurent location, which already had walk-in fridges and kitchen equipment left over from restaurants that had previously occupied the space, Hamer said. Then she found the locations at Bells Corners and the current location on Wellington Street West. As we speak, a flurry of staff work around us, wheeling prepared dough on carts and carrying hot pans from the stovetop. They’re yelling “corner,” “hot” and “behind” – reminiscent of the kitchen communication you’d hear on an episode of FX’s “The Bear.”

SuzyQ employs about 60 people across its three locations. The company’s success has even allowed it to help staff members get schooling in the trade. Hamer herself went back to school to become a certified baker and pastry chef. The St. Laurent location manager, Katie Charron, said the staff can make anywhere from 60 to 180 dozen doughnuts a day, depending on the time of year, orders and what flavours are available. A SuzyQ doughnut takes about 48 hours to make, she said, with the dough being prepared two days in advance.  “It’s Thursday today, so we’re working with Tuesday’s dough, but from proofing to being sold, it takes about two to three hours,” Charron said as she glazed a batch of “D’Ohnuts,” pink-glazed doughnuts with sprinkles inspired by a similar pastry in “The Simpsons.”

When I ask Hamer how she feels about the brand’s success and its association with Ottawa for many residents, she said she feels “flattered, but wow, that’s a huge responsibility.” Celebrating 13 years in business this month, Hamer said the secret ingredient to success is humility and a drive to always improve.  “Never rest on your laurels. (You have to) strive to be better today than you were yesterday,” she said.  Looking to the future, Hamer said the brand’s five-year plan includes expansions to Kingston, Toronto and Montreal to start, and then perhaps Canada-wide.  “I’d love to franchise and be nationwide. We still have ambitious goals for growth and being more of a household name. I think we’ve done that. We’ve succeeded (with) that in Ottawa and we’re almost a nostalgia brand now. We could pull that off nationwide,” she said.  The brand’s success is evident by the early morning lineup forming at the front of the shop. As I’m watching, a young boy flies out of his mother’s car and runs to the display case, before she even has the chance to park.  When I’m heading out, I watch the dill pickle test doughnuts and bagels as they begin proofing. Hamer tells me she has more recipe tests lined up for the rest of the day. “It’s never dull!”