At the beginning of 2018, Donut King closed after the original owners decided to retire.

When the current owner Alissa Thoenen heard the news from her father, she decided to buy the shop with her husband Paul and reopened Donut King in March of 2018.

“He comes one day after New Year’s and there’s a sign on the door that says: thanks for the years of business, but we’re gonna close down,” Alissa said. “So, my dad’s telling me this, and I was like ‘well, you should help us buy it, and Paul can run it’ because at the time I was teaching.”

Donut King offers guests a wide selection of donuts that are made from scratch each morning. From this display of treats, the one donut, in particular, that takes the crown is the world-famous ‘Chop Suey’.

“So it’s the donut holes and scraps that we put together and add cinnamon,” Paul said. “It’s basically a cinnamon fritter.”

Handling the role of making the donuts, Paul arrives as early as 9 p.m. the nights before service to begin baking.

Service is open Wednesday through Sunday starting at 5 a.m., and donuts are sold until supplies run out.

“[It] takes about a half hour for everything to heat up and get going,” Paul said. “It cooked for 11 hours today, and we’re almost sold out.”

For Paul and Alissa, their love for donuts is at the very heart of their business. This passion shines through in the craftsmanship and presentation of their donuts.

“So we’ve kept all the recipes the same,” Alissa said. “The only thing we’ve done is added a donut of the month. Some of them have stuck, like the unicorn and the strawberry sprinkle.”

Donut King has been serving the St. Charles community for decades, and Paul and Alissa hope to continue sharing their donuts in the years to come.