For retail bakeries looking ahead, it is time for a back-to-basics approach for many. Examine what is working and make life easier for the customer. This is a success strategy to grab hold of.

Joe Busken Sr., founder of iconic Cincinnati, Ohio-based retailer Busken Bakery, used to leave the back door of his bake shop unlocked during overnight hours while he was baking. Customers came and went throughout the night grabbing hot donuts and paying using an honor system – a cardboard box on the table. 

Fourth generation Dan and Brian Busken have borrowed a page out of their grandfather's playbook with the opening of a walk-up window at the back of their baking facility in Hyde Park at the corner of Wasson and Edwards Road, adjacent to the Wasson Way Trail.

The brothers now offer a simple menu of hot donuts, coffee and cold refreshments catering to the runners, walkers, bicyclists, and families that pass by on the popular Wasson Way trail that runs in both directions, directly behind the iconic baking facility.

“You can see the hot donuts being glazed,” Dan Busken says. “It’s an engaging way to have kids pressing their faces up against the glass. It’s been a lot of fun.”

He points out that Busken Bakery has been baking in Hyde Park for nearly 60 years. When the trail opened last year, the owners decided that a back-door concept serving hot donuts would become a reality.

The grand opening of the renovated store coincided with National Donut Day, which took place on Friday, June 4.

The window will be open Fridays and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Hours will expand as the summer progresses.

“People who want dessert after dinner can enjoy a special treat,” Busken points out. “We serve fresh donuts, along with iced and hot coffee.”

Founded in Cincinnati by Joseph C. Busken Sr. in 1928 the iconic bakery started from humble beginnings, selling baked goods from the counter of a meat market in East Hyde Park on Erie Avenue. In 1962 Busken moved the bakery operation to its current location at the corner of Madison and Edwards roads in Hyde Park.

Today, the 4th generation bakery operates around the clock, six days a week and produces more than 100 unique varieties of fresh baked goods every day.