Popular Doughnut Shop Opens First Local Expansion

Beiler’s, a fixture of the Reading Terminal Market, is spreading its proverbial wings and taking off with one of many planned expansions to their business. Beiler’s first offshoot, a doughnut and ice cream shop, opened its flagship branch in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The company is shooting for more doughnut and ice cream shops around the Philadelphia region.

The spread of doughnuts at the Beilor’s Reading Terminal Market location is a sweet reminder of what’s to come from their new expansion stores.

Beiler’s Bakery has been a staple at the Market for over thirty years, ever since patriarch Alvin Beiler took over the business. He now shares it with his sons, Keith and Kevin Beiler. The Beiler doughnuts have always been popular – so much, in fact, that a standalone shop, Beiler’s Doughnuts and Salads, was opened in the bakery in place of the former A.J. Pickle Patch & Salads. Now, the Beiler sons will be focusing exclusively on expanding their doughnut business.

The Lancaster outlet is about 1,200 square feet, and includes a cooking space of similar size to the shop at the Market. It can accommodate about eighteen people at a time, and has six tables outside. On the menu are as many as 55 varieties of doughnuts and seasonal doughnuts. Accompanying ice cream comes from fellow merchant Bassetts Ice Cream. There will be coffee and other drinks on the menu as well.

Kevin Beilor told the Philadelphia Business Journal that the next stop for expansion is University City. He says that his brother and him are getting “really close” to signing a deal on business space there, with plans to open in the first quarter of 2017. “University City is up and coming; there’s a lot of traffic between the two colleges, Penn and Drexel, and foot traffic with the expansion moving west,” he said.

Also on the radar? A shop in Center City – preferably in Rittenhouse Square. Beyond that, the Beilors’ 3-5 year plan focuses on opening more doughnut shops in high-traffic areas across Philadelphia, maybe eventually crossing the line into Chester County. A doughnuts-only shop gives the brothers room to focus on one thing that they are very good at, and the storefronts need not have as much space.