Everyone loves doughnuts... but they don’t want to be caught eating one — Paul

such treats. Our early research showed that women, particularly, didn’t like buying doughnuts for fear of being judged by others. Parents don’t like buying them for their kids either… So we asked what it was that induced the guilt and the answer was in the fat.”

The first attempts to reduce the fat resulted in something resembling bread rolls, says Paul. When you fry doughnuts, you usually float them in oil in a deep fat fryer. The oil is then absorbed by the dough on both sides. It took his team and him 2- 3 years experimenting with different methods of cooking the doughy balls of goodness, before they realised that the fat was an essential component of why people loved doughnuts. “By controlling the amount of fat, we were able to create the perfect balance. Also, we use only the highest quality ingredients — flour, sugar, butter, milk. Everything is made from scratch,” adds Paul. It was one of the things, he continues, that he wanted to move away from after his time with doughnut franchises. “In the end, we managed to create a doughnut that you wouldn’t feel guilty about buying and eating, which is one of the reasons I believe it’s the best doughnut in the world,” says Paul.

The word ‘ donutterie’ comes from a concatenation of doughnuts and patisserie, because, technically, these artisan doughnuts that are in between. Take away the fat and it’s a cake. Put a whole lot more in, it’s a fried doughnut. The ‘ Dum Dum’ part is just the brand being fun. “Dum Dum took nearly 20 years to develop,” says Paul, but makes no attempt to mask the fact that it is not something to be enjoyed on a daily basis. “It’s a treat that’s a lot better. But it’s still a doughnut.”

The donutterie started its journey in 2013, when Paul took his new doughnuts to the streets of London as a pop- up store. “It was so successful that we were contacted by Harrods, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols. Believe it or not, I tried to contact them before and they wouldn’t even return my calls!” says Paul with a hearty laugh. Currently, they maintain their exclusivity with the stores. “In 2014, we opened our first store in the UK — in the original box park — and just this year, our first store in Dubai,” adds Paul.

“When I started,” says Paul, “I just wanted to be proud of what I did. Today, I can honestly say I am proud of every doughnut we put on the shelves.”