Dozen

If you follow my IG stories, you know that me and my husband are total foodies. We really enjoy trying out new restaurants in the Eastern Province, and are total regulars at a few of our favorites. Dozen has recently become one of those dessert spots that we just love going to, but not just because of the yummy donuts… but also because I fell so hard for their interior!

I actually discovered this trendy little donut shop in Dammam through my husband who was driving by their store one day. He said he just had to take me there because he obviously wanted us to try the donuts, and also because he thought I’d really like the vibe of the place. He walked in because it looked so cute from the outside – now that’s legit!

The counter and the lights are probably some of my favorite details in this cafe. They’re so bold, interesting, and have so much texture! I also never imagined that the pattern on the marble would work so well with the wooden slats… but it totally does!

When we finally made our way out there, I realized how right he was. I totally fell in love with the vibe and the space. I mean we have a lot of cute coffee shops in the area, but this felt felt very well thought out, unique, hip, and comfy!

And on top of that, the donuts we had didn’t just look like pieces of art, but were the definition of what an adult donut should be. With flavors like lavender, pistachio, and salted caramel, you could enjoy complex flavors without it being too sweet. It almost felt like eating a little cake! But having said that… one of my favorites at the store so far has been the S’mores donut!

Photo Source: @dozen_sa

Photo Source: @dozen_sa

Photo Source: @dozen_sa

The other thing I absolutely adored about this place was being able to meet and chat with the sisters that founded this amazing donut shop. You can find at least one of the 3 sisters at the store every night, serving donuts to all of their customers with so much love and passion. It made me smile to see them taking the time to explain and describe their flavors to every person who walked through the door.

So after being blown away by my Dozen donut experience, I just knew I had to interview Rayhana, Sara and Yasmin to hear more about how this incredible concept got started and where the interior inspo came from…

It feels so open in the store because of the way that this stairway is set up. They’ve lost out on seating space, but it would’ve felt very closed in if the floors had been extended. This makes the restaurant feel like it’s all part of one cohesive space!

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Tell me a little bit about yourselves…

We are 3 sisters. Rayhana, 29, is a Lab-Technologist. Wife and mother to a 2 1/2-year-old boy, Ibrahim. Sara, 27, Pharmacist. Wife and a mother to 1 1/2 year old Layla.
Yasmin, 22, Marketing. Wife and mother of a two-year-old boy, Ali.

Rayhana has always had a passion for baking and creating desserts from a young age. Sara is really the cook of the family! She’s creative when it comes to savory dishes and everything she cooks is yummy. Yasmin is good with both sweet and savory dishes, but what she’s best at is decorating and art work. She has really great taste!

Ayad and Nedal, our parents, have always had our backs no matter what! They are the ones who have supported us to be creative and never let us be afraid to reach for our dreams.

It seems so simple, but they really have created a really chic yet welcoming environment

How did you come up with this idea?

Our father had already opened his own restaurant for more than 2 years and then wanted to start a new adventure. Rayhana had a couple of ideas that she wanted to share with him, and he especially expressed many times that he wanted to do something special for us girls to run and make our own. The idea of a donut shop came when we rented this space. At first we thought about a churros cafe, since at the time there were no speciality churros shop in the Eastern Province, but as soon as we rented the space we heard about a churros shop opening in Khobar, so we decided to go with Plan B – a donut shop. Thankfully everyone loved the idea, and for the first year of this project we started to test donuts at home.

We tried many different recipes and shared lots of ideas. We bought every book related to donuts and even went to London to find inspiration from other speciality donut shops!

What inspired the design of your restaurant?

The space was small and we needed to take advantage of every corner of the shop. We loved the idea of the cafes and restaurants in New York. We wanted the concept of a fire escape inside the cafe, imitating the same fire escape that you see outside of the buildings in New York City. We used to watch a lot of “Friends” and loved the idea of people sitting on the fire escape. So then our very creative family friend, Ibrahim Abumara, who had his own cafe, restaurant, and design business, helped us bring this idea to life!

Why a square donut?

At first, it was just a quick fix when we had no round cutter in the house. We would use our knife to cut the donuts. Then one day we decided to just go for this shape because not only is it different, but we noticed that this way we are also minimizing the waste of the donut.

How do you pick your flavors?

Research, research and more research! We also try to make the flavors suitable for the season, even though we basically only have two seasons – summer and winter!

What are your favorite flavors right now?

Rayhana: Right now, I’m into mini vanilla glazed donuts.

Sara: Holly Berry, White Chocolate and Raspberry Glazed with Pistachio Custard. So yum!

Yasmin: Lavender. Very yummy, light and looks great on Instagram haha!

Even the boxes reflect the pattern on the counter top… Genius.

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So cute, right?? Let me know how you like it!