Seeing DK’s of Santa Monica featured is emotional. The Tao family that took over the shop in Santa Monica worked so hard, the kids working there and working their way through college while giving all the L.A. donut shops a run for their money with constant innovation, leveraging new marketing techniques and new creative flavors as well as just the attitude and helpfulness with which they greeted their customers. The siblings are co-owners with their mom and took over the shop next door as a savory vegan eatery. They have thousands of customers and 45,000 instagram followers and there’s always a line, often out the door.
I’ve discovered the daughter Mayly Tao’s podcast:
I’d had most of my interaction with their mom while they were still in school but also with Mayly’s brother. I’d been in there maybe five times when Mayly was working. So one of those times I’m behind this guy who says to her “I’ll have the usual.” She apologized for not knowing what it was. She’s maybe served me once before, so when I got up to her, unable to suppress a look that says I’m kidding, I said “I’ll have the usual.”
“I’m going to smash your donut.”
So yeah I’m hooked on DK’s.
