A Shipley Do-Nuts store on Bellaire Boulevard in Houston

Shipley Do-Nuts started on a Houston street corner in 1936

ByRenée Castellano

Photo: WhisperToMe, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Lawrence Shipley Sr. started selling doughnuts in Houston in 1936, during the Depression. He sold glazed doughnuts at a nickel a dozen to customers and restaurants. The shop that became the first Shipley Do-Nuts opened on North Main Street in the Heights area.

The recipe stayed simple: yeast-raised doughnuts with a light glaze, made fresh through the day. The company also sold kolaches, the Czech pastries common in Texas, and kolache-style sausage rolls.

Family to franchise

Shipley’s son, Lawrence Jr., expanded the business, and the company began franchising in the 1950s and 1960s. Shipley grew across Texas and into neighboring states and now has hundreds of stores in the South.

The company stayed family-owned for most of its history, a point of pride in Houston. In 2021, the family sold the business to private equity firm Peak Rock Capital, which has pushed expansion into new markets.

Doughnuts and Houston

Shipley is one of several doughnut chains in Texas, where doughnut shops are often family businesses, many run by Cambodian American owners. Shipley’s yellow and brown signs are a fixture in Houston neighborhoods.

For many Houstonians, a box of Shipley doughnuts is part of office meetings, church events and Saturday mornings. Its growth beyond Texas will test whether that loyalty travels.

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