Meet Alex Rudolph | Donut Enthusiast

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alex Rudolph and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alex, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
The decision to start DoingDonutsinDFW was all thanks to encouragement from my friend Justin of @dfwhiddengems. Like many food bloggers, he started up his page during the pandemic to, as the page’s name suggests, help promote small restaurants. We went to college together and I was pretty infamous for my love of donuts. He was familiar with a fellow foodie page, @thebobatomytea, who focuses specifically on boba drinks. Since the market was, and still is, saturated with food blogs dedicated to all kinds of food, he thought that pages that specialized in one type of food were a great way to set oneself apart from the crowd. It was all thanks to him that I launched in October of 2020. Sometimes you have all the tools at your disposal, but you really need another person to help rearrange them into a functioning project.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
While I may have started my food blog during the pandemic, it wasn’t due to the pandemic that I started. I’ve spent over a decade working in food service and then several years in the legal sector before I was sort of at a loss as to what my next career move would be. I had been writing as a hobby for months and often liked to take down my ‘reviews’ of various things from food to movies as a way to remember how I felt about them. Other than the sometimes paralyzing imposter syndrome I believe all humans feel when jumping feet first into something totally outside of their norm, I think that starting is the easy part. The hard part is consistency. Something I enjoy about Instagram is the amount of effort you put in is usually equal to the feedback you receive. Sure, the chances of you ‘going viral’ are rare, but slow and steady growth of a few followers each day is way more precious to me. One of most businesses greatest hurdles is simply reaching their target audience. I know there are people out there that love donuts just as much as me, but definitely don’t know I exist. I hope I can reach them someday. I truly want to spread and share my love of donuts with everyone. So many people think donuts are just some cheap commodity, but the fact is fried dough treats have sprouted up all along history in pretty much every culture. The world of donuts is endless and it’s an honor to be part of that lineage.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
This question is perfect for me because my best friend does live out of state and I would absolutely want to show her the best time of her life. She’s not the biggest sweets person, but I’ve been dying to take her out for mochi donuts. She really likes boba so I feel like I could ease her into both by taking her to Ding Tea in McKinney. They have great drinks and their mochi donuts are supplied by the fabulous Mochio, a company I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing before. In the same vein, Mitsuwa Marketplace in Plano has their deguStations Japanese Food Hall that reminds me of the food halls I went to in Japan and has a stellar mochi donut shop called Good Times that is a must try. We both love animals so a trip to the Dallas Zoo is a great way to spend a day and there’s a lovely shop right around the corner called The Salty Donut, which has gluten-free options for the sensitive stomachs that we both have. I always drag her to museums, so hitting up the DMA or Perot would be a blast and just when you’d think I was finally picking something non-donut related, the best way to end any museum day is with ice cream so hitting up Scoop N’ Buns in Garland is the only way to close off the trip!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
First off, @dfwhiddengems is reason I started my blog, so they get the most apparent credit. Secondly, @dfwgrubclub, a group of local foodies, has been instrumental in showing me the ropes and are responsible for teaching me everything I know about food blogging, promotion, and pretty much every delicious food in the DFW area.

Instagram: @doingdonutsindfw

Image Credits
Portraits by Jonathan F. Jackson II Donut Bun with Horchata Ice Cream courtesy of Scoop N’ Buns Ice Cream & Desserts