What are you up to at one o’clock in the morning? For the staff at Daylight Donuts, it’s time to start the day’s work. Since 1991, Daylight Donuts’s staff has been up in the early hours of the morning preparing fresh, made-from-scratch donuts.

At the mention of Daylight Donuts, sophomore mechanical engineering major, Chandler Avery’s face lit up:

“You mean “bae-light” donuts?” said Avery, “Daylight Donuts is a Statesboro staple! It’s a smaller franchise, so they’re not just mass-producing donuts to make revenue. They believe in making their customers happy.”

Randy Linto, part-owner of Daylight Donuts, confirms Avery’s statement; He aims to please his customers:

“We will do just about anything for our customers. We do party trays for Christmas and birthdays. We also like to do seasonal things for Halloween and Easter. Honestly, we’ll try anything our customers want to try!”

Linto shared that owning a private business was not always the easiest, but it was always worth it. Rather than cooking frozen donuts each morning, the staff at Daylight Donuts work long hours to complete the donut making process. Linto admitted that he was never sure how many customers he would have on a given day, however, he sees around 450 customers each weekday morning, on average.

Senior electrical engineering major, Chase Lakhani, is one of these 450 “regulars” that frequent Daylight Donuts:

“When I have to schedule early meetings, I bribe my team members to come with Daylight Donuts. How else could I get twenty college students to meet with me at 7:30 in the morning?”

Linto shared that though the Statesboro community tended to be his biggest customers, the students in Statesboro have been picking up recently. Linto hopes this trend will continue.

What’s the secret to Daylight Donuts’ success? Linto shares a few reasons the business is successful.

“Keeping the same cook is so important,” Linto said. “It is the key to a successful restaurant, and my kitchen staff is great! Secondly, we try to treat our customers with respect. If you can keep your customers happy, you’ve got it made. Thirdly, I couldn’t do what I do without the Lord. He gives me strength; I thank Him for every customer that walks through that door. Finally, the work here is tough. I lost my wife about a month ago; she loved this place and, so do I. Whatever your job is, you’ve got to love what you do.”