Detroit doughnut shop closes its doors — but says $15,000 could prompt reopening

Frank Witsil | Detroit Free Press

Dilla’s Delights, a Detroit doughnut shop opened in 2016 to honor the memory of hip hop artist J Dilla, announced ambitious plans to reopen in a new spot and to do it the business is seeking $15,000 in public contributions through the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe.

As of early Tuesday, the effort had raised more than $6,000, mostly from small donations of $5 and $10. So far, the largest donation was $1,000.

Messages left at the shop at 242 John R. were not immediately returned, and a report from mid-December said that shop was expected to reopen after the New Year on Friday. But it's unclear from the GoFundMe appeal whether that plan had changed.

"Hi, my name is Herman Hayes. Some people affectionately call me Uncle Herm," the GoFundMe pitch begins, explaining that he is the uncle of James Yancey, aka J. Dilla and Jay Dee. One of the rapper's last albums was named "Donuts," and the shop, Hayes said, was an homage to it.

Hayes, a longtime baker in his 60s — who previously worked for Dawn Donuts, the former Flint-based doughnut chain — opened his shop more than three years ago in the Ashley Building at the corner of John R and Centre Street across from the Detroit Opera House.

When Hayes opened the shop, he was making 10 to 15 doughnut varieties himself from 100% organic flour out of the Avalon International Breads commercial kitchen but planned on opening his own kitchen near Eastern Market.

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Dilla's Delights doughnut shop opens in Detroit

He also received considerable local media attention, with Hayes touting specialties with Detroit names, such as the D-Lime-nut, instead of Key Lime doughnut, and Brewster's banana pudding doughnut, named after the former Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects in Detroit.

However, Hayes' recent appeal for help adds that he recently battled cancer and is in recovery. As a result, he says in the pitch, the shop's hours were cut, then closed "for more than a month" and ultimately fell behind on its bills.

"The goal of $15,000 will update, repair, and replace equipment used heavily for four years," he writes. "It will aid in our search for a future home, provide project renderings, and secure the legal aid needed to move forward with ease."

Hayes is guarded about where a new shop would go, writing that the shop is "in negotiations with properties for a larger space to produce and sell our donuts and merchandise with room for seating and a museum. One potential site comes with enormous historic magnitude."

He also mentions that he hopes to get grants, partners, and investors to create a "historical landmark and Detroit tourist attraction," but there are no details in the appeal about what a museum would highlight or what would make the new shop a sightseeing destination.

And the pitch also clarifies that the shop is separate from J Dilla's estate and nonprofit J Dilla Foundation with this disclaimer: "We are an independent entity and do not receive funds or assistance from any other entity which bears the name J Dilla or James Yancey."

When J Dilla died in Los Angeles at age 32, he was memorialized on publications nationwide, including the Free Press, Los Angeles Times and New York Times. News reports said he suffered from lupus, an autoimmune disease that led to multiple complications, including kidney failure and cardiac arrest.

J Dilla was survived by two daughters, who are pictured in the GoFundMe appeal.

The Free Press called the Detroit native "a champion of Detroit's urban music scene, and in the mid-'90s, when hip-hop was dominated by the East and West coasts." J Dilla, the report said, inspired artists like Eminem and D12 and "put a distinct Motor City sound on the national map."

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.