How it Began
Jake Hause’s inspiration to become a street food vendor came a fire truck.
Not the kind that puts out fires — the kind someone had converted into a mini donut truck. Jake saw it, and the idea stuck. Months of planning later, he had his own.
And just like that, The Donut Department was born — a hot, fresh mini donut operation in Armour, South Dakota, built on years of food science training, a stack of college donut shop jobs, and one very specific aesthetic vision.
The Long Road to the Truck
Jake didn’t fall into food. He chased it down.
In high school, he loaded up on cooking classes. In college, he picked up a Culinary Minor on his way to a Food Science degree with an emphasis in Research and Development. That R&D focus matters — it’s the thing that explains why The Donut Department doesn’t look like every other mini donut trailer at the fair.
Along the way, Jake worked at donut shops to pay the bills. One job in particular shaped him: a shop that ran big donuts during the week and mini donuts at the farmers’ market on weekends. That gig taught him the craft, but more importantly, it gave him a sandbox. He started experimenting. Flavors. Toppings. Combinations most donut shops would never bother to try.
Before the truck, Jake’s last stop was a cheesemaker job at Dimock Cheese in Dimock, South Dakota. Several years in food manufacturing — making product at scale, working inside someone else’s quality systems — sharpened his understanding of how food actually gets made. That kind of background gives an operator an edge most newcomers don’t have.
What Comes Out of the Window
The Donut Department serves hot and fresh mini donuts. That part isn’t unusual. What is unusual is what Jake puts on them.
Most mini donut vendors hand you cinnamon sugar and call it a day. Jake’s running Lemon and Root Beer glazes. Fruit-flavored sugars. New combinations he’s developed in his own kitchen, then tested live on customers at the window.
The runaway favorite? The Root Beer glazed donut.
“It’s different and unique,” Jake says. “Most people have never heard of it, but once they try our root beer-glazed donuts, they discover they’re delicious.”
Jake isn’t selling a familiar product. He’s selling discovery. Every Root Beer donut he hands out is a small bet that someone will lean in for something they didn’t know they wanted. And that bet keeps paying off.
He’s also expanded into Dirty Sodas — a nod to the years he and his family lived in Idaho, where the drinks are everywhere. It’s a smart add. Dirty Sodas are the kind of product that pairs perfectly with a mini donut window, and they bring in customers who maybe wouldn’t have stopped just for donuts.
A Fire Truck Story Worth Telling
Ask Jake about a memorable customer moment, and he’ll tell you about the people who got their hopes up over the wrong truck.
A customer rolled up to The Donut Department one day and told Jake they’d seen a fire truck a while back and gotten genuinely excited — only to discover it was, in fact, an actual fire truck. No donuts on board. Just disappointment. So when they finally found the real Donut Department, they were thrilled to finally get what they’d been chasing.
Jake’s truck is the kind of thing people remember and look for with strong brand recognition built one mini donut at a time.
The Lesson He Wishes He’d Learned Sooner
Ask any vendor about their biggest “I wish I’d known” moment, and you’ll usually get a real answer. Jake’s is a good one.
“One thing I wish I had learned when we first started was how to better break down costs and analyze them to better understand where to price our items.”
That’s the kind of thing food science training doesn’t always teach you. It’s the difference between making great donuts and running a great business. Pricing right at the start saves you the pain of trying to raise prices later — which always feels harder than it should.
His advice for new owners is the same lesson, said plainly: “Learn how to analyze your costs and price your items accordingly so that you don’t need to change them later.”
What’s Next
Jake’s looking at two things on the horizon.
The first is a more inside-friendly setup — a way to take The Donut Department into catering and wedding work. Right now, mini donut trucks are mostly outdoor, walk-up business. Building toward indoor events opens up a whole different revenue stream, and weddings in particular are a market that loves a memorable dessert station.
The second? Five years out, Jake wants a second truck.
We can’t wait to see what Jake and his team at the Donut Department does next!
Follow The Donut Department
To see more pictures of Donut Department’s Food Truck, check them out on Facebook:Â facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092413396062
