DAD’S WHEAT, MOM’S RECIPE IN FLYBOY BREAD

Attesting to its quality is the fact that his 80-year-old mom doesn’t have to bake much of her own bread anymore – instead she enjoys the leftovers Ben delivers. “Last time I was home, I brought about 10 loaves to her and put them in the deep freeze. It saves very well in the freezer and is a good alternative to pop in the toaster compared to today’s spongy white bread.”

Ben’s parents, Bill and Gloria Duenwald, farm near Hoven in north central South Dakota. “When I grew up, my mom would make homemade bread using some of the wheat we ground ourselves. We just called it bread … as we didn’t know anything different except for a few times when we would have what we called ‘boughten bread.’ A few years ago while my mom was recovering from carpal tunnel surgery, my dad replicated what my mom was hand-doing into a bigger batch. I expanded into an even larger batch from there. So it’s my mom’s recipe with some credit to my dad.” A vital ingredient in the Flyboy bread is whole grain wheat raised and ground by his dad on the family farm.

Flyboy Donuts is probably the fastest growing donut business in South Dakota. Why add bread? “From the beginning, I always wanted to do some things beyond donuts to show that we have other talents,” Ben said. Flyboy also offers baked caramel and cinnamon rolls. “People can take and bake, especially around the holidays,” he said.

Fresh bread is available Saturdays and Sundays at the company’s four Sioux Falls locations: 57th and Western; East 10th and Bahnson; 57th and Sycamore; and 41st and Sertoma. To ensure availability, customers are encouraged to pre-order bread at www.flyboydonuts.com.

Ben’s road to making donuts was not a straight path. He graduated from South Dakota State University with a degree in mechanized agriculture (now called ag systems technology). After college, he first cut his teeth at a luncheon meat factory in St. James, Minnesota. Then, when his wife was in training to become a physicians’ assistant, he followed her to Des Moines where he had a position in food production. When they moved to Sioux Falls, he became vice president of operations for Grand Prairie Foods.

When they had three kids in daycare, the couple decided to make some changes. He became a part-time consultant and part-time stayat-home dad – before moving to become a full-time stay-at-home dad. When he was done with that life phase, Ben began looking for a business to buy. “I came across Flyboy, which had only been in Sioux Falls for about two months. The original owner started Flyboy Donuts in Tea, expanded to Sioux Falls, and then closed the one in Tea. I purchased the store at 57th and Western in Sioux Falls and purchased the brand and kind of went from there.”

Being a “systems guy” with a farminspired entrepreneurial edge, “I always knew I wanted to own something because ownership is in my blood. I can always kind of envision what the next phase will be. And then you just kind of creep into it. I knew when I started with just one location that we would eventually have four locations – but we did it quicker than what I thought we would.”

Immediate and extended family members work in the business, just like on the farm where he grew up. In nine years, the company has grown to include about 10 full-time and more than 40 part-time employees. “We have a really good team that works around the clock at times to produce over 8,000 donuts a day,” he said. All the donuts are fresh – no day-old donuts are sold. But leftovers aren’t thrown away either … nonprofit groups like Bread Break pick up as many of the extras as they can and distributes to charities, schools and shelters.

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