Red Donut Shop opens second location in Welcome
A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Red Donut Shop in Welcome was held Aug. 3. In the center are partners in the business Landon Grant (with scissors) and Saro Vey. Landon’s wife, Natalie, is behind him and their son, Caleb, is in front. They are flanked by employees, many of whom are student athletes at North Davidson High School. {Contributed photo}
Red Donut Shop in Lexington has expanded its business with a satellite storefront at 6640 Old Highway 52 across from Kimono’s Japanese Restaurant in Welcome.
The popular donut shop, located at 117 N. Main St., was opened in uptown Lexington in 2016 by Saro Vay and his brothers, David, Vonnie and Sanya Vay.
The Welcome shop, which opened this past Friday, is owned by Saro Vay and his business partner, Landon Grant.
Vay and Grant, who owns LG Productions, are also partners in the Red Donut Mobile food trailer business they launched this past spring. The two trailers have gone to festivals and corporate/sports/employee appreciation events.
Vay always wanted a second storefront location and Welcome made sense since many of the shop’s customers are from the northern Davidson County area and even Winston-Salem.
“We were just waiting for the right space.” Vay noted he lives halfway between Lexington and Welcome and Grant and his wife, Natalie, a Spanish teacher at North Davidson High, live in the Welcome community.
“And about half of our staff lives in the Welcome area.” He added many of his employees are North Davidson High School student athletes, including varsity cheerleaders and volleyball players.
The current staff of about 14 people will work at both locations and Vay will be managing them both until an on-site manager can be hired.
“The menu will basically be the same as in Lexington.” The doughnuts, fritters, bismarcks and other sweets will be available as well as coffees, frappes and bubble teas.
The baked goods will be made in the Lexington kitchen and transported fresh daily to the Welcome satellite shop, which is decorated in a space theme with photos taken when Vay and Grant launched a doughnut into space on a GPS and camera-equipped weather balloon as a marketing promotion this past spring.
Business hours in Welcome start an hour later than in Lexington. The Welcome shop will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Vay said the Welcome location is close to three schools — Welcome Elementary, North Davidson Middle and North Davidson High — as well as a large employer, Richard Childress Racing, and the adjacent RCR stock car racing museum. “There are a lot of potential customers.”
Vay is talking to school officials about possibly selling doughnuts and drinks from one of the mobile food trailers at the home football games of North Davidson High.
Additionally, the entrepreneur is looking into expanding to other locations and even possibly franchising Red Donut Shop. “It’s always been in our plans to do others if this does well.”
The Welcome shop will soon be on social media such as Facebook and Instagram.
