Southern Living - September, 2006

Southern Living - May, 2006

Beachgoers stand in line for up to two hours to get hot doughnuts at Ocean City's Fractured Prune The Donut Shoppe, owned by Sandy Tyler and Tad and Colleen Kaufman.

Washington Post - Best Of The Beach

The Fractured Prune® was awarded "Best Local Snack" by the Washington Post in the Sunday, June 5, 2005 "Best of the Beach" article

The Food Network

The Fractured Prune® was showcased on November 4, 2003 on the Food Network's "On The Road with Al Roker"

Doughnuts by the Beach
reprinted from The Washington Post

Since the early 1960s, at one location or another, beach-goers in Ocean City, Md., have enjoyed made-to-order, hot, cake doughnuts. This simple pleasure and O.C. tradition is alive and well at the two Fractured Prune® doughnut shops. Owners Sandy Tylor, daughter Colleen Kaufman and her husband, Tad Kaufman, turn circles of fried dough into tender breakfast treats by hand-dipping each doughnut in any of 12 glazes, seven toppings and three types of sugar.

The procedure is simple. A first-time customer is offered a free-sample- a glazed doughnut dusted with cinnamon. With that doughnut under the belt, folks of any age have the opportunity to create combinations by requesting doughnuts (75 cents each, $6.95 per dozen) adorned with toppings of their choice.

Children favor the "rainbow"- a honey glazed doughnut covered with multi-colored jimmies. The Kaufmans say that active, health-conscious young adults are keen on the maple granola topping. Seniors stick with the tried and true-plain, hot doughnuts rolled in cinnamon sugar. But it's the teenagers, as expected, that really get into the mix.

"They do combinations that astound me, like lemon glaze with Oreo cookie and powdered sugar of blueberry glaze with chocolate chips and cinnamon sugar. That one floored me," says Tad Kaufman.

Note: Business is particularly brisk at the 127th Street location on weekend mornings, when, on average, the wait is one hour, and 250 dozen hot doughnuts fly out the door. Head downtown. Regular customers know there's a shorter wait at the 28th Street location.

Dazzling Doughnuts in Delmarva
reprinted from Chowhound

Please forgive this alliteration. I spent the weekend in Ocean City and the ultimate highlight of the trip was made-to-order donuts at The Fractured Prune® on route 1 at about 30th street (the next block after Pancho and Lefty's). I suppose the concept is inspired by the Krispy Kreme "hot donuts" phenomenon. But the FP goes one step further. You order the number of donuts you want, and the toppings you want. And then the guy makes the donuts for you.

They are cake-type, and unbelievably tender: batter dropped into the hot oil, versus rolled-out dough. They take just a minute or two to make. Then he dips them in glaze, or rolls them in cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar, or tops with coconut, peanuts, chocolate sprinkles, etc. And puts them in a box and you eat them hot. Wow! This is an idea whose time has come. No need for bakers to work all night, no day-old donuts at the end of the day. And they are so much more delicious, as is anything fried, when it comes right out of the fat.

Tasty O.C. Tradition

The Fractured Prune looking to share tasty O.C. tradition with rest of the world
By Kristy Graver, Ocean City Today Staff Writer

(Feb. 25, 2005) The Fractured Prune, Ocean City's legendary source for sugary, deep-fried goodness, is well on its way to becoming a donut empire.

In September, after more than a year of paperwork and legal maneuvering, the state of Maryland gave owners Sandy Tylor, her daughter Colleen Kaufman and son-in-law Tad Kaufman, approval to franchise their business. The first satellite location opened in Deale, Md., last fall and residents of West Ocean City and Rehoboth Beach, Del., will be reveling in the doughy delights by this spring. Within the next year, expect to see more Prunes popping-up in Ocean Pines, Howard, Montgomery and Prince George's counties, Bethany Beach, Del., and various spots in Virginia.

In addition to running two resort shops on 28th Street and 127th Street, The Fractured Prune family will be flaunting their delectable wares - which also include bagels and assorted breakfast sandwiches - to 14,000 potential investors at the International Franchise Expo in Washington, D.C. in April.

"It's a labor of love to take your business to the next level," Tylor says. "You have to be very focused and very committed to the process."

According to business experts, there are three key ingredients needed to make a franchise: a unique name (check), a creative approach (check) and a good product (double check).

The Fractured Prune, which was named in honor of Prunella Shriek, an adventurous, albeit injury-prone, Ocean City resident of yore, has been serving made-to-order, hot cake donuts since the early-1960s. It's not uncommon for hungry customers to stand in hour-long lines for a little taste of heaven. Last Fourth of July, the business sold over 9,000 donuts.

"Day after day when I hear people say things like, 'these are the best donuts I've ever had in my life' and 'Krispy Kreme can't hold a candle to The Fractured Prune,' I think, yeah, we do have something special here," Tylor says.

Jamie Lauren Peck, 18, drove down to the beach from Bethesda with her boyfriend Sandy Thompson, 18, to introduce him to her favorite treats. First-time customers always get a complimentary honey-glazed donut dusted with cinnamon and sugar. After one bite, Thompson was hooked and ordered a dozen more.

"I'm amazed," he says, wiping a dribble of glaze from his chin. "You get to pick out everything you want on it. I've never even thought about that before, let alone seen it."

The folks at The Fractured Prune pride themselves on providing people with a full-blown sensory experience. Not only can customers inhale the sweet scents from a mile away, they can watch the entire donut-making process from batter to pastry box. First, the flour-and-water mixture is loaded into a hopper which measures and shapes the individual cakes. A machine called The Donut Robot then fries the goodies to perfection in cholesterol-free oil. After that, it's up to the customer to choose from a buffet of tasty toppings and glazes.

"It's fun watching people create their own donut," Colleen Kaufman says, "especially the college kids; they get crazy."

One of the more outrageous concoctions to be served at The Fractured Prune was a donut drizzled in peanut butter and orange glaze and crowned with chocolate sprinkles, coconut and cinnamon. The new featured item on the menu is the Hole-in-One, a hot, customized donut served with one generous scoop of vanilla ice cream in the center of it.

"We do eat our own products," Tylor confesses. "The Hole-in-One, that's just too hard to resist. We're going to go berserk with that. But, every now and then you just have to have something good."

Sampling the fruits, or in this case, the donuts, of their labor, is one indulgence the owners allow themselves. Unlike the fragile body of Prunella Shriek, Tylor and her family have an unbreakable work ethic and put a little bit of heart and soul into each and every donut they make.

And customers appreciate the effort.

"Thank You" cards from donut-devotees around the country line the walls of each shop.

"Franchising has been a long process with a lot of ups and downs," Colleen Kaufman said. "It feels really good when people come in and say, 'no one deserves it more than you guys.'"

The 127th Street location is currently opens at 7 a.m. Friday-Sunday. Both shops will be open seven days a week starting April 1. For more information on The Fractured Prune, including details about franchising opportunities, visit www.fracturedprune.com or call 1-866-369-3668.