Stan’s Donuts: Where It’s Been Love at First Bite—for 66 Years
A buck ninety doesn’t buy much these days. But in the heart of Silicon Valley, where change happens in nanoseconds and the new and the novel are celebrated above all else, it will still get you a fresh, warm and sweet taste of joy, one that hasn’t changed in 66 years.
Hand over two crisp Washingtons at Stan’s Donut Shop in Santa Clara, and you’ll receive back not only a dime, but an irresistible, pillowy, yeasted donut smothered in sugary glaze, its runaway best-seller. Hand-rolled, hand-cut and likely right out of the fryer mere moments ago, Stan’s donuts have been proudly made the same way by the same family since 1959.
Its loyal customers wouldn’t have it any other way. Some have been lining up two-deep out the door, for three generations. As the Valley has grown by leaps and bounds, so too has Stan’s fan base. Employees from Nvidia, Google and Intel, plus staff and players from the San Francisco 49ers, San Jose Sharks and San Jose Earthquakes, know this place well. Comedian Bill Burr even made a pilgrimage here in 2017, which he videotaped. Though he misidentified its location as—ahem—San Jose, Stan’s staff has long forgiven him, thanks to his sheer exuberance upon biting into a maple-glazed cake donut that he declared, “F—ing delicious!”
Bryant Chau, 29, gets it. He thinks nothing of driving 10 miles in rush-hour traffic on a Friday morning from Milpitas to Stan’s to pick up two big boxes of donuts for his staff at the Milpitas Recreation Services Department, where he is a programs coordinator.
“There are many chain donut shops now, but they are run of the mill,” he says. “The fancy donut shops are great. But you always find comfort here in a glazed donut.”
Canuto Ramos, 38, knows that all too well. Some might consider it blasphemy that he drives to Stan’s to pick up apple fritters and glazed donuts when he lives next-door to a donut shop in his hometown of Milpitas. He begs to differ. “I grew up as a kid eating the donuts that are next to me,” he says. “I’m an adult now. I need quality. Stan’s dough is just fluffier and softer.”
Praise like that is as sweet as it gets for owner Julie Clark, whose business has never advertised, preferring to grow its customers simply through word of mouth. “My parents created something solid and right that keeps drawing people in,” she says. “Everyone is happy when they come through these doors.”
It’s a place where time has largely stood still, much to the delight of customers. Step inside and it still looks like it did when founder Stanford Wittmayer, the “Stan” behind the shop and Julie’s father, first opened it. The World War II veteran learned the craft while working at a donut shop in Sunnyvale before buying what was an old donut shop in Santa Clara. Because Wittmayer was eager to greet everyone who dropped by, he set up the original donut-making station at the front window, allowing him to interact with customers.
The menu on the wall—hand-painted by the late artist Luis Felipe Villafuerte, whose family still frequents Stan’s—lists the original offerings of ice cream cones, cheeseburgers and egg salad sandwiches—even if those were curtailed more than 20 years ago, when the business shifted from donuts plus lunch to only donuts and drinks.
The glass case captivates with sprinkle donuts, colossal cinnamon twists, French crullers, plump custard-filled donuts and raspberry-filled jelly donuts, all made from Wittmayer’s original recipes. In recent years, new ones have joined the lineup, available on select days, including a peanut-butter-filled one frosted with chocolate; a lemon cream donut; and a banana cream donut. Valentine’s Day brings heart-shaped donuts blanketed in red and pink sprinkles; fall means pumpkin buttermilk donuts; and December is all about eggnog buttermilk ones.
Even so, Stan’s is not the place for donuts gussied up with ube or gold leaf. Or even ones that are gluten-free. Or for fancy Italian espressos or matcha lattes. There are only brewed cups of Oakland’s Peerless coffee for a bargain $1.50. It’s also cash- and check-only. That means no Apple Pay, not even for Apple itself when it bought 85 dozen donuts, one of Stan’s largest orders.
“We don’t want to sell croissants. Or gum,” Clark says. “We want to keep it to its original way, because there’s just something sweet about keeping it old-school”.
The appearance and size of the 1,500-square-foot donut shop may not have changed, but its output certainly has, growing fivefold over the past 20 years. To meet customers’ appetite, Stan’s now makes upwards of 7,000 donuts daily.
At midnight, its 15 workers start arriving to mix the dough and glazes fresh each morning. Jesus Lopez, who learned how to make donuts from Clark’s oldest brother, has been the head baker for 22 years and was made a partner in the business in 2018. His wife, Carmen, has worked the front counter even longer. Their two kids also work here now.
As teenagers, Clark and her eight siblings all helped serve donuts and tidy the shop, as did their mom, Tina. After a 20-year career as an operations manager for gaming software companies, Clark came back 14 years ago to oversee the place.
Like her dad, she loves nothing more than seeing the customers who come from all over the Bay Area, as well as from as far away as England, Spain, Germany, Russia, China, Japan and Singapore, including some who make a beeline directly from the airport.
James Reily, 64 of San Jose, waited patiently outside the door for his group of 11 family members visiting from Oregon, Utah and Los Angeles to arrive. A harmonicist with the Crosstown Trio band, he’s been eating Stan’s donuts since he was 6 years old.
“My diet says I shouldn’t do this,” he says with a chuckle. “But my daughter and grandson are visiting. So, today I will eat a glazed—or two—with milk. That’s the way to do it”.
This year, Clark’s older sister, Cathy, retired from helping her run the shop. At 61, Clark, the youngest Wittmayer child, mulls the future too. Although she doesn’t envision her own grown children taking it over, she heartily believes that Stan’s will continue on even when she walks out the door for the final time.
“We definitely want to keep it going,” she says. “The fact that we could carry on my parents’ legacy, and keep it as true as possible is what I’m proudest of. It really has been a blessing”.
Stan’s Donut Shop
2628 Homestead Rd, Santa Clara
stansdonutshop.com
408.296.5982
