Rise’n Roll gobbled up awards like its customers gobble up its signature donuts.
The donut chain, which has 16 Indiana locations, including two in Fort Wayne, has plenty to celebrate, thanks to the “Underground Donut Tour,” which bills itself as the “only food tour just for donuts.”
For nearly 8 years, the tour has been showcasing cities and the donuts they have to offer.
Rise’n Roll Bakery absolutely cleaned up in the 2023 edition of the tour’s “America’s Greatest Donut” contest. The Indiana-based chain won “Overall Fan Favorite.” Its cinnamon caramel donut was “voted far and away the most popular donut in America” and won the “Greatest Cinnamon Sugar Donut” category. The bakery also earned top honors in numerous categories:
- Greatest Cake Donut (Red Velvet)
- Greatest Crime Filled Donut (Boston Cream)
- Greatest Jelly Filled Donut (Lemon Jelly filled)
- Greatest Old Fashioned Donut (Old Fashioned)
- Greatest Unique Flavors Donut (Mocha Donut)
- Greatest Unique Toppings Donut (Crunch Delight)
- Greatest Yeast Donut (Cinnamon Caramel Donut)
Overall, the Underground Donut Tour touted 22 awards; Rise’n Roll won nine of them!
It’s definitely a win-win for Rise’n Roll lovers; the local chain will offer free cinnamon caramel donuts on June 2 (National Donut Day) to celebrate the big wins. Those are available at Rise’n Roll locations while supplies last, according to a post on the company’s Facebook page.
For the contest, people nominated 500 donut shops from around the country. Those nominations were then whittled down to 200 and put to a vote, leading to the final results. More than 22,000 votes were cast between April 26 and May 17. You can find the list of winners here.
As the overall winner, Rise’n Roll will be rewarded with a $500 donation to the charity of its choice.
Rise’n Roll built on its success from last year’s contest, when it won five awards, including “Overall Fan Favorite.”
The Middlebury, Indiana-based chain started in 2001 when a young Amish couple started selling baked goods from their front porch. They eventually opened a bakery in Middlebury. A non-Amish family bought the company in 2009 and began franchising it.
There are now 16 Rise’n Roll locations in Indiana, including five in central Indiana: Avon, Broad Ripple, Downtown Indianapolis, Fishers and Greenwood. Other bakeries are in Elkhart, Fort Wayne, Schererville, Valparaiso and Warsaw, among other locations.
