Taste Delight Donuts
From Nevilpedia
By Daris A Nevil
February 14, 2002
The decades following the end of World War II saw a great change in the eating habits of Americans. The general affluence during the 1950's allowed families to purchase their meals more frequently than ever before. This change in spending habits led to the development of today's fast food chains such as Wendy's, McDonalds, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and many more. This period also saw the development of many family owned dining institutions. This article follows the development of one such institution, Taste Delight Donuts.
In the early 1950’s Sherman Nevil and his brother-in-law Aaron White were busy opening donut shops across the state of Texas and Oklahoma. They worked out a business arrangement with J. B. Hargroves, the owner of the Dallas-based Southern Maid Donuts franchise, in which Sherman and Aaron would receive sales commissions on every new shop opened, as well as continuing residual commissions on flour sold to the shops.
Aaron and his wife, Cloyce Nevil White, opened their first shop in Rule, Texas. A shop soon followed in Witchita Falls. Sherman and his wife Jeanette opened shops in several Texas towns including San Angelo, Lubbock, Sherman, and Farmersville, as well as a location in Altus, Oklahoma.
Meanwhile, Sherman’s brother, Daris R. Nevil (D.R.), became interested in opening his own donut shop. He had worked for Gulf Oil Transport as a truck driver in the early 1950’s. In the mid 1950’s he started a Gulf Service Station in Dallas. By 1958 he was again working as a truck driver in the auto transport industry.
During one of their trips to West Texas Sherman and Aaron had scouted out the “perfect” location in the town of Abilene. They encouraged D.R. to stop by and view the site. During one of his runs through West Texas D.R. made a stop at Abilene to check out the location.
The owner of the lot was a prominent Abilene businessman, Mr. Wagstaff. He had purchased an old army barracks from decommissioned Camp Barkeley and moved it to a spacious corner lot at South 7th and Butternut. He situated the building at an angle so that it faced a north-west direction, maximizing both parking and visibility of the storefront. Mr. Wagstaff was still in the process of remodeling the old barracks when D.R. first saw it.
Even though the remodeling was unfinished and the parking lot was still unpaved D.R. saw the great potential in the location and the building. South 7th and Butternut was one of the busiest intersections in town. The Butternut underpass between South 1st and North 1st did not yet exist, and most of the traffic south of the tracks ran along Butternut, and east and west on South 7th. Only one other donut shop operated in town at the time, located across from the old Robinson Rexall Pharmacy in the 900 block of Butternut.
Upon his return to Dallas, D.R. contacted his brother. They met with J. B. Hargroves and his son, and discussed the business arrangement over a game of golf at Tennison Park in Dallas. D.R. arranged to purchased the necessary equipment on terms from the franchise. His father, William Nevil, put a farming tractor up for collateral.
D.R. worked out a least agreement with Mr. Wagstaff that included construction of a drive-through window, paving the lot, and partial bricking of the storefront. D. R. purchased a large rotating sign for $2200 from Abilene’s Thomas Neon, which still adorns the site to this day.
In late 1958 D.R. and his wife, Geneva, moved their family of five to Abilene. They rented a house next door to the shop, also owned by Mr. Wagstaff. This old green house later became the first office of Dr. Hose Guerra.
The business opened its doors in February, 1959 as “Southern Maid Donuts”. It was an instant success. Abilene had never seen such an operation. Most of the donut making equipment was lined along the front wall in front of the large glass windows, and consisted of the cutting table, proof box, fryer, and glazing machine. Not only could you enjoy a hot donut and cup of coffee, but you could watch D.R. as he skillfully and swiftly rolled out the dough and cut the donuts. He developed a technique in which he would “whack” the cutter into the dough, and then swiftly flick the cutter so that the donut flew up and landed around his thumb. He could cut out 6 donuts in 4 seconds. It was amazing to watch, and he often drew a crowd of on-lookers outside the large window in front of his cutting table.
A wide selection of donuts was offered, including glazed, chocolate, cinnamon rolls, strawberry, ambrosia, cherry, orange, coconut; 25 varieties in all. The shop also offered large 36-inch square pizzas, pies, coffee and fountain drinks. Store hours were from 6am until 10pm, Monday through Saturday.
Encouraged by the success of his first shop, D.R. opened two more locations, one in the 900 block of Grape Street on the north side of town, and one on South 14th Street near the present day HEB store.
The Grape Street shop was opened in 1960. D. R. secured a lease on the location and had a small building constructed per his specifications. He purchased another sign from Thomas Neon, this time negotiating a deal for only $1000. He found equipment in Sherman, Texas which he purchased for $1000. This location was also an immediate success, and it paid for itself within a year.
This was due, in part, to the cold war between the United States and the USSR. After the Bay of Pigs incident in 1961, Pres. Kennedy ordered the constuction of several nuclear missile silos around Abilene. This brought in a large number of military staff, contractors, and construction workers. The local economy boomed during the next 18 months, and provded an excellent atmosphere for starting a new business.
But by 1963 the construction was finished, and most of the contractors had left town. D. R. was forced to close the Grape Street location in 1963. The building still stands today.
The South 14th Street location was a disappointing failure. A small space was rented from Knight Carpet company in a small strip shopping center. The store lacked sufficient parking and had no drive through window, which was highly successful at the other stores. The South 14th location opened in the fall of 1963 and closed six months later.
In 1963 D.R. decided it was time to go independent, so he left the Southern Maid franchise. He renamed his shop “Taste Delight Donuts”. His immediate challenge was working out a successful, proprietary recipe. As a Southern Maid franchisee not only was he required to use their name, but was also required to use their special flour mix, which contained all of the dry ingredients, the contents of which were well guarded.
D.R.’s first attempt at a dough recipe was less than successful. His customer base began to dwindle. Desperately he tried variations on the recipe. After several months of struggle and prayer, he hit upon success. The result was a donut with a light texture and excellent flavor.
He simplified his menu by removing the pizzas and pies, and later removed “cake” donuts, and focused solely on yeast-raised donuts. He regained his customers, and his business continued to grow.
In 1966 D.R. was approached by Mrs. Baird’s Bakery of Abilene. They were making donuts to sell along with their bread products, but decided it was not cost effective to make their own donuts. D.R. was awarded a contract to supply his donuts to the bakery. For the next seven years he delivered 200-300 dozen donuts to the bakery every day. On occasion that number reached 1000 dozen in a day.
The large wholesale volume required a different approach to manufacturing. He could not physically hand cut that many donuts, so he invested in a “DoCo” machine. This machine enabled him to cut a full screen of donuts (about 36 donuts per screen) in less than half a minute. The machine required a thicker dough, so he again modified his recipe. He felt that the quality of the new recipe was not quite as good, but it still produced a good tasting donut.
The contract with Mrs. Baird’s ended in 1973, so D.R. once again turned his attention to his retail business. He returned to his hand cutting approach, and emphasized the sale of hot donuts, fresh from the fryer and glazer. A red neon HOT DONUTS sign was positioned above the drive through window. The sign was turned on during the morning hours when the production line created a continuous flow of hot fresh donuts. It drew in customers like a moth is drawn to a light.
By 1980 D.R. and his family had operated the shop for 21 years. He and his Geneva were ready to retire from the business. In April of 1980 they sold the shop to friends of the family, Dick and Virginia Powell.
Dick and Virginia re-introduced the use of a mechanical cutting machine, this time using a "Moleen Machine". With D.R.'s help they successfully modified the recipe in order to work with the machine.
Due to health reasons Dick and Virginia decided to sell the shop and retire (Dick had previously retired as an Abilene postal carrier). They ran an ad in the paper, which was answered by Robert Knopp.
Robert had moved to Abilene from Ft. Worth in 1972. He gained experience in the donut industry by working for Dunkin Donuts in Abilene. In 1982 he was working in the oil patch when the first oil depression hit. He was searching for a donut business to purchase when he saw Dick and Virginia's ad. Robert and his wife Marilyn purchased Taste Delight Donuts in Sept 1982.
Robert and Marilyn ran the business much the way D.R. and Geneva Nevil had. They involved their three children in the operation. In 1990 they incorporated, changing the name to Taste Delight Donuts, Inc.
Robert still owns and operates Taste Delight today. He purchased the South 7th and Butternut property in 2001 from Mr. Westmoreland, the step son of Mr. Waggstaff. Robert expanded the operation to include a satellite shop near the Mall of Abilene.
