SW’s Donut Mill (Plainwell)
554 E. Allegan StreetWe’re gonna have to share, Kalamazoo. No longer is Sweetwater’s Donut Mill something you will only be able to get in Southwest Michigan. Pretty soon you could be seeing Sweetwater’s wherever you travel.
The franchising arm of Sweetwaters is SW’s Donut Mill and is headquartered in Plainwell. They opened a new store/training facility just a few weeks ago right off US-131 on East Allegan Street. The new construction building sits on a lot across the street from Wesco and Borgess-Pipp Hospital. The franchise stores will all look like Sweetwater’s and will have the same incredibly delicious donuts as Sweetwater’s, but they will use the name SW’s Donut Mill.
I had to work for a couple of hours in Grand Rapids on Sunday morning. I was done by a little after 9:00. On my way back to Kalamazoo, I decided to surprise my kids with donuts from SW’s which would also give me a chance to check out the new location.
The big difference between this franchise location and the three flagship locations is that this building was built as a stand alone store on an empty piece of land that it shares with nothing else. The shop is much bigger than the flagship stores and has plenty of parking in it’s large parking between the building and Allegan Street.
SW’s Donut Mill has been open for a couple of weeks now in Plainwell, but it’s still something new to the people in the area. I was surprised when I opened the door to see a line extending all the way back to where I was.
The store is set up the same was as the flagship locations. There’s a glass counter that separates the customer area from the donuts. This counter is filled with donut holes and other bakery items.
The donuts are on a rack behind the counter. They have all the same flavors as the main stores and the process works the same. There are a number of employees quickly filling boxes then passing you off to a cashier at the end of the counter.
Off to the right of the donut area is a lunch counter type area with a pub height bar and chairs for the coffee drinkers to gather in the morning. In addition to coffee they have Pepsi products including 20 oz bottles in a cooler near the door.
There’s also a pretty spacious seating area in the space with more pub tables and booths along the outer wall. Most of these were full the morning I was there as several people opted to eat their donuts instead of taking them home.
There are four people in my family so I only got four donuts. The employee tried to sell me on the fact that it would be cheaper to do a half a dozen but that means I’d have to eat two more. Trust me, I wouldn’t complain about actually eating them…they’re freaking delicious, but I know I don’t need to eat two more donuts. I was fine with paying a little extra just to get what I needed for breakfast that morning.
I absolutely love their Oreo donuts. These yeast donuts are filled with a vanilla cream then dipped in a glaze and covered with chocolate cookie pieces. The thing I noticed right away is that there wasn’t nearly as much cookie or nearly as much filling in this donut as their is in the ones I usually get from the Stadium Drive location. My guess is this is still due to the learning curve. The donut was still incredibly delicious. I got two of those because I couldn’t remember what J likes so I panicked her and got her the one I like.
The kids both love the “pink donut.” What they mean by the “pink donut” is the New York Cheesecake. This is another yeast donut with a cream cheese filling and a strawberry frosting. While the Oreo donuts were really under filled, the Cheesecake donuts were bursting at the seams with the filling. Both kids made a mess but that’s the fun of Sweetwater’s donuts. It’s not a good breakfast unless the toddler has frosting from ear to ear.
The four donuts and two bottles of Pepsi set me back just a little over $7. There really is no where else you can get such a filling, delicious breakfast for that price.
SW’s Donut Mill will be successful because it’s just building off a successful, tasty product that we’ve been lucky enough to enjoy in Kalamazoo (and Battle Creek) for 30 years. I hate having to share but love knowing that we were on the ground floor for this donut chain that has so much potential
SW Michigan Dining 