If you have visted Martha's Vinyard chances are you have heard of Back Door Donuts. If not here here is how it all got strated. Haveing personally stood in line many times I can attest that's its always worth the wait.
5 Post Office Square first housed a bakery long before patrons began lining up at the back door. Walmsley's Bakery was established in the summer of 1948, and remained a pillar of the Oak Bluffs community for decades. Walmsley's was known to toss a donut or two out the back door in the wee hours of the morning. The White Family - led by Patriarch Peter White - purchased the bakery in 1971 and changed the name to Old Stone. Peter is believed to be the first to run an official sales operation from the back door. There were no hours in those days. If you wanted a donut at 4am, Peter and his staff would gladly oblige. What began as a secret known only to those "in the know" quickly became a must-do for Vineyard residents and visitors alike. Thus the tradition of Back Door Donuts was born.
In 2001, Peter White Jr. sold the bakery to Rita Brown and Janice Casey, who rebranded as Martha's Vineyard Gourmet Cafe & Bakery. They hired Rafat Jabri (aka Raffi) as Executive Chef and opened their doors to the Martha's Vineyard community. Much like the White's and Walmsley's before him, Raffi and his world class bake staff made a majority of their baked good overnight. The smell from the kitchen engulfed the Oak Bluffs commercial district and customers lined up, at times by the hundreds.
In 2018 after 17 years of stewardship, Jan and Rita decided it was time to hang up their aprons and passed the torch to local residents Richard Friedman, Patrick Lyons and David Ginsberg. Raffi and his team remain intact and the recipes are unchanged - the Back Door tradition alive and well.
MV Gourmet Cafe is open daily 6:00am - 10:00pm; Backdoor service is available 7:00pm - 12:58am.
"Got strated"? "Haveing"? What were you drinking with those doughnuts?
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