At 4 a.m., Giuliano Ciccocioppo is already channeling his sweet tooth.
Dough needs to be rolled, cut into circles, fried, dried, decorated and boxed- then repeated 200 times.
He’s the owner of Trou de Beigne, a doughnut shop tucked in the heart of Montreal’s Little Italy neighbourhood. But Ciccocioppo isn’t just the owner.
“Owner, baker, delivery boy, janitor, social media… everything,” he said.
Some might call him dedicated, others might say a little sugar crazy.
It’s all part of his quest for the Holy Grail: the perfect doughnut.
“It’s my personal search for a better chocolate doughnut,” he said.
But Ciccocioppo doesn’t stop there.
Chocolate is on the menu along with blueberry, apple crumble, and maple-bacon, to name a few. There is even an eggnog flavour that will be coming out for the holidays.
What started in his parents kitchen in 2013 grew to a storefront on St-Zotique East which opened in January.
“I wanted to, not make them healthy, but make a more reasonable doughnut with no artificial flavour or colour,” he said. “Instead of using butter or lard we use coconut oil.”
His wife is an accountant by day but moonlights as a doughnut-making assistant.
“My wife knew what she was getting into… kind of,” he joked.
“I knew it would take eating a lot of doughnuts in the testing phase,” Zena Edaibat, Ciccocioppo’s wife, said. “One of the first things I did was encourage him, the second was join the gym.”
The store doesn’t really have a closing time, it shuts down when they sell out.
They aim for 5 p.m., but sometimes they close as early as 3:30 p.m.
Customers have come from as far away as Hawaii and San Francisco for a Trou de Beigne sweet.
Ciccocioppo only discovered their international appeal when a client from New York showed up asking for their famous treats.
“Someone from Long Island showed us a newspaper clipping that happened to be about Montreal. They were talking about places to visit here like Fairmount Bagel, Schwartz’s,” he said. “That was cool to be mentioned among Montreal staples.”