ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — A St. Louis County doughnut shop is getting some financial support amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Dave Portnoy, founder of the website Barstool Sports, created the Barstool Fund to help small businesses that have been impacted by COVID-19.
So far, more than $36 million has been raised to help more than 200 small businesses across the country.
Ann Saladin, owner of Donut Palace in Ellisville, applied for the fund. For her application, she put together a video that showed daily operations of the shop and explained why it was in need.
This week, Portnoy FaceTimed Saladin to let her know her shop was one of the small businesses that were chosen to receive funds.
"I'm not often speechless but I'm speechless, you're awesome," she said in the video.
In her application video, she talked about the shop's loss in revenue amid the pandemic. The shop closed its dining room to make space for the checkout line to be socially distant. It also lost its wholesale accounts, which were 30-40% of the shop's weekly business. The owners were planning to open another location but that has been put on hold.
Saladin also talked about how her shop has helped the community during this time.
“Doughnuts are a happy purchase,” she said. “We’ve stayed open the whole time; we joke that we’re essential. While we joke about it, I think there’s some truth to that. Doughnuts make a lot of people happy.”
The Donut Palace has been donating doughnuts to hospitals since the pandemic began in March 2020. So far, the shop has donated more than 7,000 doughnuts to health care workers.
If you'd like to donate to the Barstool Fund to help small businesses, click here.
About Donut Palace
Donut Palace is a family owned and operated shop that serves handcrafted doughnuts that are made fresh daily. It also serves Kaldi’s coffee that is ground in house. The shop has more than 50 varieties of doughnuts in the case every morning, with other custom options available upon request.
Donut Palace is located at 37 Clarkson Road in Ellisville and is open 6 a.m.-12 p.m. seven days a week. The shop offers carryout and curbside pickup.