Downyflake Doughnuts has been serving Nantucket locals and visitors to the Island for over eighty-nine years. The combination restaurant and take-out operation, which serves breakfast and lunch daily ten months out of the year, is not only a local favorite, but has a widespread reputation throughout New England. Travel planners and trip advisors list Downyflake Doughnuts as a “must see,” while visiting Nantucket. A trip to the Downyflake for a hearty breakfast, a quick and reasonably priced lunch or a box of fresh doughnuts has become a Nantucket tradition. The Downyflake is a daily bee hive of activity. The Downyflake is more than just a food operation. It is a meeting spot for locals and summer residents. The Downyflake is a local business key to the heartbeat of the Nantucket community.
The Downyflake is steeped in not only Nantucket, but U.S. history. It is believed to be the last remaining doughnut shop in the first chain of franchise businesses in the U.S. In the early 1930’s, the Donut Corporation of America pioneered the development of the Downyflake franchise, having acquired the first automated doughnut machine. During the 1940’s, the inventor of the automated machine, Adolph Levitt, helped supply product to the Red Cross, and doughnuts were made available to American servicemen on the battlefields throughout Europe.
At the end of World War II, the Donut Corporation of America published an instruction booklet aimed at recruiting returning servicemen to open doughnut shops. Dozens of Downyflake Donut shops popped up all over America by 1950.