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Say the word “doughnut” in Massachusetts and you might summon a certain reaction. Bay Staters (myself included) have an affinity for a brand of mass-produced confection best known for its affiliation with Ben Affleck. In 2015, though, Blackbird Doughnuts, the brainchild of owner Rebecca Roth Gullo, launched on Tremont Street in Boston’s South End and sought to reinvent the commercial pastry — even if she wasn’t sure that anyone would care.
“She had just had her second daughter when that opened,” says Elena De Silva, president of the Gallows Group, a restaurant conglomerate founded by Roth Gullo that includes Blackbird and several other Boston-based eateries. “I think she didn’t think it would turn into anything.”
But Blackbird has become more than just anything. In fact, it has become a recognized name among local pastry aficionados, synonymous with artisanal baked goods in and around Boston. Looking for brioche- or cake-style doughnuts? How about inventive takes on the classics, like the Everything Bagel brioche stuffed with whipped cream cheese? Or seasonal flavor combos like the champagne-orange Mimosa Glaze? Look no further than Blackbird.
De Silva, who grew up in the historic, coastal town of Ipswich, Massachusetts, has worked for Roth Gullo for nearly a decade and watched the evolution of Blackbird from a single-branch doughnut shop to its current expansive state: seven stores, the most recent of which opened in Watertown, just west of Boston; a full-scale commissary kitchen to help keep up with the demands of multiple stores; and even a pop-up, which operated for one year in the Financial District. “We’re looking to be the next regional coffee and doughnut chain,” De Silva says. “We have no plans of stopping anytime soon.”
For now, Blackbird remains a Massachusetts-only chain. “We’ve looked into Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, potentially,” De Silva says. “But we’re not quite sure which cities.” In the meantime, Bay Staters can own bragging rights from being the sole beneficiaries of these artisanal doughnuts.
Despite Blackbird’s impressive growth, the actual doughnuts feel anything but mass-produced. Set apart from other chain competitors, Blackbird keeps their list of ingredients short. “They’re made fresh every single day, and our ingredient list is very small,” De Silva says of the store’s doughnuts. “There’s no preservatives in them. There’s no stabilizers. We’ve really prided ourselves on the fact that we’ve created this amazing product, and we’ve been able to replicate it across seven stores, and it’s not filled with any junk — I mean, minus the junk.” (Naturally, a doughnut wouldn't be a doughnut without a healthy dose of everyone's favorite junk: sugar.)
In addition to a standing roster of seven doughnuts like salted toffee, vanilla cake, and chocolate sprinkle, Blackbird also fries up special flavors each month. “We always have a rotating seasonal jam Bismark doughnut,” De Silva says. The jam reflects the season: Summer is strawberry-rhubarb and blueberry, for instance. Although it’s a challenge to source enough local fruit for seven stores, she concedes, Blackbird does use local fruit when it’s available. “We get blackberries from Rebecca’s mother’s garden,” De Silva says. “We try to get anything local we can.”
Many of Blackbird’s doughnuts, De Silva notes, are also vegan. Their brioche dough is made with vegan butter, making them accessible for all kinds of diners.
Though Blackbird manages a large roster of employees across their seven locations, the “corporate” side of the company is still small and manageable, with a head baker and one assistant. “That keeps us pretty busy,” De Silva says.
The business is now a juggernaut, moving forward, innovating, and constantly thinking about the future. And that applies to the actual pastries, too. The doughnuts, De Silva says, change regularly to stay “relevant” and “keep people excited.”
“There’s always something different,” she says. “There’s always an excuse to eat a doughnut.”
PHOTO CREDIT:
Art Direction: Sarah Ceniceros Gomez
