Cuisine

Make that: warm, fresh, ever-so-delish Mmmaryland donuts.

These Homerian musings are inspired by Krumpe’s Do-Nuts, a Hagerstown institution that’s been making generations of loyal customers smile one bite of deep-fried heaven at a time.

It’s a rule: When cruising through Hagerstown at night, you do a Krumpe’s run.

Shortly before 8 p.m., vehicles with headlights ablaze begin queuing up along “Do-Nut Alley” (so named by city officials in 2010). Inside the matchbox-sized store awaits an all-star lineup of glazed, powdered, jelly, and Long Johns. Priced to move, a dozen will set you back just $5.

“We’re still using the same scratch recipe my grandfather perfected more than 75 years ago,” observes Fred Krumpe, partner in the operation with brother Rudy and nephew Max.

“Back then, Krumpe’s was 100-percent wholesale, but people kept banging on the door.” Today, wholesale customers still account for 70 percent of sales, which explains the shop’s moonlight hours.

“People tell us not to relocate,” Fred says. “Coming down the alley is part of the Krumpe’s experience.”

On a fact-finding mission, friends and I make the jaunt to Krumpe’s for an official taste test. The counter clerks don’t blink when we order 30 assorted—nor do they bother to tape the box shut. Why pretend?

Out in the parking lot, we throw caution—and belts—to the wind. For the rest of the evening, we’re practically mmmmm’ing in four-part harmony.

Our findings confirm what Washington County natives have known all along: Alphabetically, Krumpe’s may fall behind “Krispy Kreme,” but the North Carolina giant places a distant second to this local legend.

Rudy fondly recalls a Martinsburg, West Virginia, church, during its fundraising season, placing a telephone order for 1,000 dozen donuts—for each of five days.

Team Krumpe logged 16-hour shifts to make it happen.

Fred chuckles, “They brought a bus the first day, filled it up with donuts, then had to rearrange everything to make the other half fit.”

The church sold all 60,000.

Another time, a New Jersey fraternity dispatched three pledges on a midnight run to “the Promised Land.” Their mission: to secure two-dozen glazed donuts for several hungry frat brothers.

“They had a tight timetable and took forever to find our alley, but managed to pull it off,” Fred recalls warmly.

Customers often encourage him and his brother to franchise, but a family business suits the Krumpes just fine.

Asked if the corporate giants intimidate them, Fred grins.

“Our customers,” he says, “are ferociously loyal to us.”

Jonesing for a jelly-filled? Krumpe’s, open Sunday-Friday from 7 p.m.-2 a.m., is located at 912 Maryland Avenue in Hagerstown. For more information, call 301-733-6103 or visit http://krumpesdonuts.com.       

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