STL DPB ON THE ROAD - COPS & DOUGHNUTS

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner in Clare, Michigan, with our daughter-in-law’s family. Clare is right in the middle of Michigan’s lower peninsula, a town of about 3,300 named for County Clare, Ireland, where my father’s family is from. Its best-known business is Cops & Doughnuts. All of the small town police department took over the failing town bakery some years ago and created a business famous in the region. It is a meme in American culture that the police love doughnuts and coffee, especially if not at their own expense.              

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - OFFICIAL BUSINESS

Wandering down the same art walk alley in Clare, a visitor will see some puzzling signs. (I could say arresting signs but I will not, for reasons that will become clear quickly.)  The city morgue? It looks like a small refrigerated building jutting into the alley containing . . . what? Not the bodies of unfortunates who could not survive a central Michigan winter, but rather everything you need to make sweet, fried pastries.

This is at the back of Clare's renowned Cops & Doughnuts. It was the town bakery, dating back to the late 19th Century. When it was about to go under in the 1980s, all the members of the small police force pooled their money, bought it and rebranded the business. This blog has visited there before - see https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=88921809%40N00&sort=date-taken-desc&text=Cops%20%26%20Doughnuts&view_all=1 The place serves many kinds of yummies and is full of small-town police jokes.

I bought a dozen for the family. Nothing went to waste.       

City Daily Photo Theme Day: Let's Eat

Hedonism simplified. Get your life in order. I suppose it's a matter of taste and priorities, but some people might ask for seconds and never make it any further. My father, who was in commercial sugar business, would have approved.

The location is Clare, Michigan's famous Cops & Doughnuts. It's heaven for those with a sweet tooth and a nightmare for endocrinologists and dentists.   

Cops & Doughnuts - 2

Another look at Cops & Doughnuts in Clare. A large room next to the bakery contains a shop with a dizzying variety of C&D merchandise. (And it's open 24/7! Who needs a hat with a police badge and a doughnut on it at 3 in the morning?) That's where we met Ryno (third photo), one of the nine founding policemen. His name is actually Greg Rynearson and he is retired from the force, giving all his time to promoting dental business in central Michigan. When we went back for breakfast a couple of days later, we ran into another co-founder, Jeremy McGraw. He's still on duty. On the street, not at the fryer.

The room on the other size of the bakery holds the Traffic Stop Diner, seen in the last pic. Mrs. C is talking to two of the locals, Fern and Bill, who go there every single day. When no one came to the counter to take our orders, Bill went in the back and pulled out the cook to do it. The couple call themselves ambassadors but I'm not sure if it is for the shop or the town. Maybe both. Like everyone in Clare, they are amazingly friendly.

By the way, I found a web page that purports to explain the American meme of police and doughnuts. Not sure whether to believe it but you can read it here.                

Cops & Doughnuts - 1

Clare, Michigan's most famous institution is Cops & Doughnuts. The location had housed the city's bakery since 1896. Several years ago it was on the verge of going out of business. All nine members of the town's police department bought it and turned it into what you see here. The baked goods are fabulous (lots of things besides doughnuts), the theme is cute and it has become immensely popular. Other locations have opened in Michigan and Indiana.

There is an adjacent diner and a shop selling all sorts of cutsie-poo themed merchandise. More about that and the cop-owners tomorrow.