SAN DIEGO — After fifty years of donut making, a San Diego husband and wife are looking back on the sweet taste of success.
In this Zevely Zone, I share a special story about the 'Sugary Circle of Life'.
If you've lived in San Diego for any amount of time, you know there is one couple with the magic touch for donuts. "I've been making donuts since 1973," said Ben Aivati. He and his wife Janese have shared the sweetest relationship any couple could have ever asked for.
"I said wow, ha, ha, ha," said Ben when describing what he said the first time he laid eyes on Janese 40 years ago.
"I thought he looked Italian, I thought he has got to be Italian," said Janese. Nope. Ben immigrated to the United States from Iran in 1973 and calls the Donut Touch his American Dream.
"Yes, I could have done more if I had a little bit of help, but I didn't it was just me," said Ben.
A local paper once wrote the headline 'Every Community Needs a Donut Man. "That's this guy," said Ben with a smile bigger than his Maple bar. One shop led to two, then three and then the decades rolled by.
"We have people who brought their children here and they grew up and now they bring their children," said Janese. Ben added, "They want me to recognize them, I look at them and they say do you know who I am I say, 'No I don't because the guy was this tall and now he's 6' 4'".
Ben has been selling donuts for so long his customers' preferences have changed for example when I was young, I preferred anything colorful with sprinkles and now fittingly, I go for the Old Fashioned.
"Maple bacon bars. Those are really good. They are like pancakes," said Ben in 2013 when CBS 8's Larry Himmel stopped by with some sticky fingers.
"How many are on there?" asked Larry with Ben holding a huge tray of donuts. "You put 24 on there?" asked Larry.
Ben agreed and said, "24 of them." Larry then swiped a donut and said, "What if there were 23?" Ben countered and said, "Make it 22!" Not only did Larry stuff himself with donuts, his story packed the shop with customers.
"We got very busy after he left, I mean we got slammed with a lot of people coming through we couldn't handle it," said Ben.
Ben and Janese have sold millions of donuts and say it's time to take a step back and let their loyal staff run the business.
"I want to leave it to them because they are the best and they can take care of it and they know the business, so I will leave it for them so they can have a life too and I go fishing," said Ben.
"We are pretty much a family here," said employee Alondra Becerra. She says if anyone has earned the right to sleep a few extra hours in the morning it's Ben and Janese.
"In a way, we are kind of glad they are stepping away because they deserve a break," said Alondra.
At one point in his career, Ben worked for Dunkin' Donuts, so we just had to hear him say the famous line before signing off. "I made the donuts, I officially made the donuts," he laughed.
The Donut Touch has three locations in Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch and 4S Ranch. For more information, click here.