The Chronicle was able to sit down with Lindsey Moriarty, the founder and co-owner of Monuts in Durham. Monuts, a bakery that specializes in donuts and bagels, recently moved locations, and The Chronicle talked to her about the new location and the future of the adored independent bakery.
The Chronicle: So when I was checking out your website, I saw that Monuts started out with you selling donuts from the back of a tricycle by the Durham Farmer’s market. How did you decide to get started that way?
Lindsey Moriarty: Well, I had this adult sized tricycle, and I had just finished grad school. Over the summer time, I had decided to start selling donuts off the back of this tricycle as a sort of job while I looked for another job. There were food trucks at the farmers market… I mean, I did it as a kind of whim, as a way to not have to look for any kind of real job, and then it took off, I think it got way more popular than I expected it to, and it kind of forced me to take it more seriously than I had planned to.
TC: And clearly you’ve ended up taking it very seriously; Monuts isn’t just doing donuts anymore, right? Didn't you recently add a dinner menu as well?
LM: Yeah, I mean I knew that when we transitioned from the tricycle to the first store on Ferris Street we knew we wanted to do more than just donuts, and then because of limitations of the space on Ferris Street and how quickly we hit capacity, we could only do so much more than donuts. Things sort of stopped at bagels and sandwiches. One of the goals of moving into the new space was to give ourselves the ability to continue to grow and continue to have fun with food, and that meant adding to our service. We like to cook, and, the more we can, the better.
TC: So, was the idea to evolve the food and the space something you had from the outset? Or, has that changed over your time working and building up Monuts?
LM: When I started, I had no idea it was ever going to be this successful. Even after moving into Ferris Street, I had no idea of it being any bigger than what it was at that point. I think it’s been about 3 years total from when I started the tricycle to now, and so the fact that it’s gone from me and my boyfriend making donuts in the kitchen at 4 in the morning to having 40 employees… well, it’s crazy, and it’s hard to believe even for us. And so, no. I never saw it getting that big. Although, I’m happy it has. I think it’s taken on a life of its own in a lot of ways.
TC: If it’s started to take on a life of its own, do you feel that you’re still in charge of the direction that Monuts is taking?
LM: I don’t think that the two are mutually exclusive. We’re still the driving force behind Monuts, and I think from the beginning we made a pretty conscious effort to be transparent about what the business was, what we wanted to support with it, and, because of our own background coming from academia, we want it to be more than just a restaurant. And so, in that regard, Monuts is very much a reflection of what we want it to be. I think in terms of the size and the move from downtown to 9th street, those kinds of things are growth, but I think we can control it to a certain extent. But, you know, it’s going to be impacted by the community and the environment that you’re in. As much as we’re influencing Monuts, I think Durham and our customers and our staff have a little influence on it.
TC: You mentioned that you had a vision of what you wanted Monuts to be when you started out. What was that vision?
LM: For some background, I have a master’s degree in economic development, and I’ve always had an interest in job quality, especially with regards to service industry jobs. And when I started Monuts, I wanted it to be a restaurant that actually treated its employees well and offered health insurance, paid a living wage, you know, I didn’t want to just be another restaurant paying minimum wage or below to employees that hated their jobs. I wanted to use Monuts as a way of showing the rest of the industry and the community that restaurants are able and can do better than they have been. They’ve developed a terrible reputation for employee welfare, and that kind of makes me upset because people just think it has to be that way because it’s been that way for so long. And so, with Monuts, from the beginning, we built into our business plan a certain expectation for wage levels and benefits, and that’s been what we’ve prioritized. Rather than just produce profits, we want to have good jobs for our employees.
TC: That’s really incredible that you’ve been able to keep that idea alive through all your expansion, too. If it were still a smaller business or shop, or maybe a couple other employees, I can see how you would manage. But you mentioned that you have almost 40 employees now?
LM: Yeah, we’re just hitting 40 now. It’s been really great because one of the impacts that we have seen in the past three years is that… Well, people in Durham want to take hold of this concept. Durham is a place with a lot of activists, and I think it makes it easy for a cause like that to take root, and I think it would be wonderful if one of the effects of Monuts would be to push other restaurants in the neighborhood to take similar steps towards the important things, like adopting a living wage instead of a minimum wage.
TC: Mhm. You’re trying to not just get away with doing the least for your employees that you legally have to, but, instead, it seems like you want to have a good, active relationship with your employees.
LM: I mean, I love our employees. It’s such a great staff. When your employees know that you take them seriously as professionals, you’re willing to put your money where your mouth is, then you’re able to develop a more meaningful relationship with your staff. I think it sets up a different dynamic, and I think it’s been very positive for us.
TC: Another question that I had about the community, more specifically about the Duke community, was about your new location. Are you expecting the new place on 9th street to change your clientele, like by pulling in more Duke students? Do you think that 9th street will change the amount of foot traffic you’ll be able to get?
LM: We definitely expected to get more students at the new location, but we did get a fair amount at the old location so I don’t think it’ll make a big change in the people we see in Monuts. I think now it breaks down, because we have more space, that we’ll be able to have more traffic. In the early morning we have commuters, people on their way to work, and then later on we have families, and then it’s a little later in the day or in the morning where we start to see the student traffic pick up. Business is business, and Duke is part of the Durham community, so we’re happy to have anybody who wants to come.
TC: Apart from the additional flexibility that the new building’s space and kitchen give you, are there any other advantages or disadvantages that you see coming from the move? Or, was it more about creating the space to have more dining options?
LM: Well, the space at Ferris felt like such a home for us. It was tiny. It was cozy. It was ours. We were worried about being able to carry over that charm into the new space, but I think we’ve actually done it really well, and I think we’re all happy at how quickly we’ve been able to create that sense of coziness, and the character of the space is still very similar. So, I really think that having all that extra space is wonderful. I’m sure there are disadvantages too; I kind of miss being downtown and being a part of the downtown. There’s a lot going on down there, and I liked being a part of it, drawing people into core of the city instead of just the periphery. But, we still have the lease on the space downtown, and so we’re hoping to be able to put something else back there once we have everything running a bit more smoothly at the new space.
TC: Really? So, are you planning on having two Monuts locations?
LM: I mean, we haven’t locked down exactly on what we’re planning on doing with the old space. A second Monuts location is certainly one of the options that we’re playing around with. We aren’t quite sure if having two locations so close together would be a good or a bad idea, but I think one thing that we seem to have learned is that having more space means more people coming in, so maybe a second location wouldn’t be a bad idea. We also have a bunch of other ideas that we’re floating around, and so people will have to wait and see what it actually turns into.
TC: Well, it sounds like you have a lot of ideas about how things might pan out. Do you know what your plans are for the current location on 9th street, or are you focusing on just getting it fully established first?
LM: Right now, we’re battling a giant growth spurt. We’re perpetually understaffed, and we’re trying to hold on for dear life while business continues to grow. Currently our aim for the new space is to fill out night times; breakfast and lunch are pretty much covered, but at this point night time only leaves us a few hours to get all the prep done and get ready for the next morning. Right now, we’re focusing on working out the kinks of our busiest hours, and then, as we do that, we’ll start putting more effort into deciding what the later hours of the day are going to look like.
TC: So right now, do you offer the same menu all day?
LM: Yeah. Right now it’s the same menu all day, and we kind of focus on things that can translate from breakfast to dinner pretty easily. In the next couple of weeks we’re hoping to have a more dinner-specific menu that doesn’t become available until after 5:00.
TC: So who’s working on putting the menu together; is it just you, or are you bringing in an outside chef?
LM: It’s me and Rob who are doing all the menu planning and the recipes. We have a great staff of cooks who we enjoy working with, but a lot of the creative side is still coming from us right now. That’s kind of the funnest part of running a restaurant, I think, so we don’t see ourselves pulling out of it any time soon.
TC: The creative aspect is what makes it fun for you?
LM: Yeah. It keeps it fun; it keeps it fresh. It’s easy to get bored when you make the same things every day, and so coming up with new recipes and trying new things and offering rotating specials is a lot more exciting for us.
TC: And I’m sure that makes it exciting for us customers, too! Well, that’s about it, thank you so much for taking the time to talk. I’ll definitely have to come by for a donut sometime soon.
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