The Vault Member Feature: Alexandra McEntire
Alexandra McEntire owns a specialty donut and coffee shop in Scottsdale, Arizona called Chin Up Donuts. She started baking as a hobby after moving to Seattle for a full-time corporate job – being from Arizona she found herself in a completely different environment where it was raining constantly! Alexandra stumbled upon making donuts and fell in love with the versatility and fun she could have with flavor combos on donuts. Alexandra says. “After playing around with eccentric donut flavors and bringing them to coworkers and friends with great feedback, I decided I was having more fun making donuts and building that business than at my desk job. I quit my corporate job and moved back to the sunshine of Arizona to start my donut shop.” Alexandra found her own passion and has been able to build her own brand.
At Chin Up Donuts, everything is made from scratch, in-house and done as a brioche style donut that is rich, buttery, and denser than your traditional raised donut. Chin Up Donuts specializes in eccentric flavors, pairing spicy, savory, and unexpected glazes and toppings – all served alongside fresh coffee that’s roasted in-store. Something that makes Chin Up Donuts unique is the way their products are made! Alexandra let us know more about her products, “We believe in real ingredients and never use any mixes for our donuts – creating our donuts from scratch with all the good, natural stuff – milk, eggs, and butter. At Chin Up Donuts you’ll get a donut that has our signature brioche texture, glazed + topped with interesting flavors like sriracha cinnamon sugar, everything bagel, and lavender.” These products of course sound very unique but also delicious!
Something that Alexandra loves about her company is how they aim to push the boundaries of what people expect to find on – or in! – a donut all while spreading joy. Alexandra says, “I created this company to spread happiness and positivity with the community and I love allowing people to indulge and share our donuts with others to pass along more joy. There’s nothing better than hearing someone say it’s the best donut they’ve ever had and that it has made their day.” Sometimes it’s the simple things in life like a great donut and cup of coffee that can turn a day around, and Alexandra feels really grateful to be able to create that positive experience for someone.
Along with telling us about her amazing company and delicious products, Alexandra gave us some tips on how to balance a career, relationships and social life. “You have to work really hard to prioritize what’s important. Your business can very easily consume your life and everything takes a back seat, and that’s what happened to me the first year of my business. But you have to make a decision to carve out time for your family, social life, etc. and I’m trying to get better at that. Working out is my escape and when I get ‘me-time’ and I’m up at 4:30am every morning to get some time at the gym to prioritize myself and my health before I even start my work day. I take a few hours off on Friday mornings to spend with family/friends, I think it’s important to decide on a day each week that you can make yours for spending time with the people you love, or something (other than your job) that you enjoy.” Alexandra seems to have an excellent work life balance and that is something many of us could use or take notes on to learn how to manage our busy lives!
Although Alexandra has been able to build up a successful brand and company, she has definitely faced adversity in getting there. She gave us some insight on the struggles she and her company have faced. “Running a business can be an insane roller coaster of emotions. We hit a low point over our first summer in the shop where I didn’t know how I was going to keep going – sales were low and I was burning through the dollars in my bank account and just felt like I was drowning.” Alexandra and her company were definitely going through a tough time, here are some ways she was able to overcome it. “You just have to keep going, surrounding myself with people that have continued to cheer me on, and who will step-up and help when I need something has been SO important in overcoming these low moments. I had to get creative, be more resourceful, and really lean into my support system to get through and now I try to prepare myself for those kinds of situations and know how to get out of the funk when I’m feeling low.” She also says, “Ask for help when you need it! No one will think less of you or judge you for not being able to do it on your own, if you have the right crew everyone will be eager to help however they can.”
We are so proud of Alexandra and everything she has accomplished! Amazing people and companies like hers help make up The Modern Day Wife community! For more insight on Chin Up Donuts check out their website and Instagram: @chinupdonuts and if you are in the Scottsdale area definitely check them out in person.
