2016 Economic Impact Awards 1-5 Years in Operation Winner: Hurts Donut Co.

How do you work 25 hours a day, eight days a week? Tim Clegg knows.

The co-owner, with wife Kas, of Hurts Donut Co. practically lived at the store before its opening, bedding down in the storage closet. Adding an hour and a day to the shop’s posted hours is a nod to those beginnings and a memorable tagline.

“We were spending 100 percent of our time at the store, sometimes sleeping there with our kids in a Pack ’N Play,” Clegg says. “We just bumped everything up by one hour, because it made sense with the amount of time we were spending.”

It still makes sense. The company now includes a corporate south-side Springfield location and franchises in Norman, Okla., Wichita, Kan., Iowa City, Iowa, and Lincoln, Neb., bringing all 2015 revenues to $3.6 million. A franchise for Frisco, Texas, has been approved and six additional locations are set. Upwards of 60 applications – and growing – from franchise wannabes await review. A franchise director is a new hire.

The Cleggs thought they’d consider franchising after five years. Popularity of the brand and an especially persistent person in Wichita moved that up.

It’s an amazing trajectory for the couple who had $7.30 left in the bank on the brink of the 5 a.m. opening Nov. 18, 2013.

“The day before, I know my wife was buying milk on a credit card, which was maxed out,” Clegg says.

He’s no stranger to self-employment. Amid his varied background – which includes the U.S. Marines, development, headhunting, a roofing gig and an unsuccessful restaurant – is ownership with Kas of the local Sno Biz franchise. When the yen to open a donut store proved too much to ignore, the Cleggs stocked away every penny from Sno Biz.

“It was a huge role of the dice, because we didn’t know if it was going to take off,” Clegg says. “And, of course, having a failed restaurant – I was nervous.”

Nerves, however, didn’t get in the way of creativity. The Cleggs hung T-shirts in their store window as it was under construction with a coupon on the back. Passersby bought them, even though there wasn’t yet a product. And when the opening was successful and staff too few, Kas hired people out of the line and posted on Facebook. By the end of the first week, they had 20 employees.

“We have a joke around the office that she is the 13-year-old girl on Facebook,” Clegg says of Kas. “She is our marketing director.”

Social media remains a core component of connecting with customers, who return the favor. Last year, a fan suggestion landed Hurts Donut’s Nutella doughnut at No. 2 on Buzzfeed’s list of “33 Doughnuts You Have to Try Before You Die.”

“When we created that, it was a one-day deal,” Clegg says. “So many people lined up for it, two weeks later that doughnut was featured in a Buzzfeed article.”

Hurts Donut projects $10 million in 2016 revenue.

“We have lots of humble days where we sit back and don’t say anything and think about where we’ve been and where we’re going,” Clegg says. “We don’t take it for granted.”