The pride of Sussex, NB is still a family favourite

In the 1960s Ingrid Dunster made the best donuts in Sussex, NB. She took pride in using only the freshest ingredients in her secret recipe. Her family, friends and neighbours all agreed that Mrs. Dunster should begin selling her donuts so that the rest of the community could enjoy her tasty treats as well. Soon, her husband Harold began bringing the donuts to various grocers on his daily bread route. The Dunsters were able to move their bakery from their home to a commercial kitchen with a little café. The popularity of Mrs. Dunster’s extended beyond New Brunswick to other Atlantic provinces.

In 1996 Mrs. Dunster’s was purchased by Dairytown. To keep up with the brand’s popularity, Dairytown purchased a grocery store in Sussex and converted it into a large-scale kitchen.

After many successful years with Dairytown, Mrs. Dunster’s once again became a family business when in 2014 Blair and Rosalyn Hyslop became the proud new owners.

Blair explains that they always felt that Mrs. Dunster’s had more potential than was being realized, and it seems that customers agree. The company has more than tripled in size in the last seven years. What the couple didn’t anticipate was the impact that they could have in making their communities stronger. With a dedication to helping out, Blair and Rosalyn have been active in reducing child poverty; increasing local food security and local food growth; assisting with literacy through their charity Good Fit Book and other charities.

Mrs. Dunster’s as a business is unique in that they are a fresh bakery with direct-to-store delivery, meaning they carry no inventory. They are also responsible for their inventory and sales in stores—if what is stocked in stores doesn’t sell, they take it back. The challenge is in seeing that no store is ever out of stock, and that they never bring anything back. Company bakers in Moncton and Sussex work hard to bake fresh products and drivers deliver them to stores in the Maritimes and Maine twice a week.

Blair says, “One of the best things about working for Mrs. Dunster’s is that when you tell someone where you work, they get a big smile on their face and often they tell you a story.”

We assumed that Blair would have a favourite product and we were not wrong. “Our favourite is the crescent donut—it’s our most popular donut and one of the reasons is that it’s the donut your grandmother would have made. We still use Ingrid Dunster’s original recipe and we are one of the few bakeries that still fry our donuts in lard.”

This year has been another milestone as they built a new bakery in Moncton—a 40,000 sq. ft. bakery where they will make more than 200 different fresh baked goods. These baked delights will be sold to grocery stores across Atlantic Canada, Maine and in their own stores in Sussex and Dartmouth. They plan to open a store at the Moncton bakery in the coming year. They’ve also purchased a bread company in Burlington, Vermont, and it seems the sky is the limit.

Blair says that his and Rosalyn’s plan is to continue to grow this great Atlantic Canadian company by focusing on family recipes, to help it achieve its full potential. He says that it may sound a bit cheesy, but he never imagined that the company would have grown to where they have over the past seven years. We’ll dunk a donut in celebration with them!