SPRINGFIELD, IL — It’s a household name around this town. People will stand in line to get donuts by the dozen from any of the five Mel-O-Cream Secret Recipe Donuts shops. And supermarket shoppers throughout the Midwest may not realize it, but they, too, enjoy the quality of Springfield, IL-based Mel-O-Cream Donuts International.
The signature yellow sign lights retail locations throughout Springfield, while the original commercial facility has produced its secret recipe for wholesale customers for nine decades.
In 1932, Kelly Grant Sr. bought the original donut shop for a rumored $500 and with no baking experience. He learned the trade while all six of his kids worked in the bakery through their teen years. Mel-O-Cream began as a retail shop, but after supply chain shortages during World War II, the retail business fell sharply post-war, and the model shifted to wholesale routes for grocery stores and restaurants.
His oldest son, Kelly Grant Jr., joined the family business, and although his father offered to give him half the company and sell him the other half, his work was cut out for him. Grant Sr. was a self-taught baker, and he expected his son to learn the same way.
“He was supposed to teach me how to make donuts, and it became very clear he wasn’t interested in that,” Grant Jr. recalled. “But if you don’t like work, you don’t want to be in the donut business.”
For 65 years, Grant Jr. owned and operated Mel-O-Cream with partner Dave Waltrip as donuts maintained a stronghold in the market, gaining momentum in the franchising trend of the ‘60s and, as the retail business waned, taking center stage during the dawn of in-store bakeries in the ’80s.
