TWU student finds sweet success in unique confections
By Shelby Baker
Photography by Jeni Berry
Sugary, savory and absolutely unique describe one of Denton’s sweetest restaurants.
From the donuts to the hours to the people, there’s nothing normal about Denton Square Donuts.
Camdam Besselman, a current TWU student, and her family bought the business in April 2012. The previous owner posted that the business was for sale on Facebook and Besselman saw the post an hour later.
“I called my mom and told her I wanted to buy it,” Besselman explained. “She didn’t expect me to email them. It was a pretty spontaneous buy, especially since I bought it during finals week.”
The purchase panned out to include Besselman’s brothers when she contacted the previous owner, stating she and her brothers wanted to buy it.
“I kind of threw them in it,” Besselman recalled. “I told them afterward that I had something to tell them, and they were immediately suspicious. When I said we were going to buy a business, they thought I was joking. Once they realized this was real, they jumped on board really fast.”
When she bought the business, Besselman, a music major, had to make a lot of adjustments to her time management. She had to reduce the number of hours she was taking each semester at TWU to focus on the business and still do her best.
“I knew it would take a lot of time, but I didn’t realize how much,” she elaborated. “The funny thing is that before middle school, I wanted to be a baker. A switch flipped, though, and I developed a love of music, but I never stopped baking. Now I get to do my hobby every day and music. I love it.”
The family paid from savings and from all the work onsite. While her mother, a TWU graduate student, focuses on the books and her brothers on the customers, Besselman’s primary work is baking and experimenting. Each donut and pastry is a collaborative effort; an idea is formed and everyone suggests different flavors and variations to devise the square-shaped creations.
“My favorite donut is a three-way tie,” Besselman admitted. “The bacon-maple is like a pancake with bacon on it, the cinnamon is really good, and I never get tired of the first donut I created, which is the strawberries and cream.”
The donuts range from dessert-like to savory and are enjoyed from morning to night. The family figured that since the donuts already weren’t normal, why have normal times? The business already has quite a bit of night activity. Its newest addition to the menu, the gyro, is a rich pork pastry that can be served any time of day.
Denton Square Donuts is not just creative through the food, though. Besselman’s love of music can be found in the shop as well. Local musicians come in almost every weekday and weeknight to perform. Her brothers are both artists as well, and their work is showcased on the back wall of the first floor as well as other local artists’ work on both floors. Besselman appreciates the ability to showcase the family’s interests as well as local works of art as soon as customers enter the shop. She hopes to one day see the store expand and grow.
“The next place I would like to see us is Highland Village,” Besselman stated, “although we’re not going to at the moment, I’ve been looking at spaces there and would like to expand there; Ft. Worth even, [maybe even] have a Dublin Square Donuts. That’s my dream for the business and it would be really nice if it could happen one day.”
Donuts are $1 during Happy Hour every day from 2-4 p.m. Specials are posted on the Facebook page “Denton Square Donuts.”
Artists wishing to display artwork at Denton Square Donuts can email pictures of art for selection by the owners, and will be displayed one month at a time. For more information, readers may email info@dentonsquaredonuts.com.
