 
 When
people hear the name Mel-O-Cream®, what usually comes
to mind are donuts. Mel-O-Cream® Donuts was founded
in 1932 as a retail shop in Springfield, Illinois. This
occurred during the height of the Great Depression which
led the founder, Kelly Grant Sr., to sell donuts at
wholesale to restaurants and corner grocery stores.
Eventually, Mel-O-Cream®
became a household word in the Springfield area. The
distribution continued to expand into the late 40's
and early 50's. On July 2, 1954, Mel-O-Cream® became
incorporated in Illinois. Additionally, an agreement
was reached for Kelly Grant, Jr. to purchase the company.
In 1964 the first Mel-O-Cream®
franchise was opened. To accommodate the anticipated
growth in franchising the business moved into a newly
constructed warehouse in 1969. At the peak of the franchising
business, Mel-O-Cream® added a frozen dough production
line to produce all the franchise donuts in a central
location. By 1980, the number of franchised shops had
grown to 14. However, with the changes
in the economy and interest rates soaring to more than
20%, no prospective franchisee could hope to pay interest
at that level and operate profitably. This dictated
a change of direction for Mel-O-Cream® Donuts.
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Mel-O-Cream®
International, Inc.'s core business is now manufacturing
bakery products primarily for the wholesale distribution
to supermarket and bakery operations. After entering
this market in 1980, it became apparent that much
of the growth in the baking industry would be at
the wholesale level.
As the business continued
to grow, plans for a new facility were announced
in 1996. The new facility was constructed to produce
not only the frozen dokuts, Mel-O-Cream® had been
so successful in producing, but also a whole new
line of Prefried donuts. In October of 1997 the
company was relocated into the new facility and
the frozen dough production continued while testing
on the prefried line was being done. Mel-O-Cream®
released the prefried line in March of 1998 and
has had continued success in growing the donut business.
In 2007 we are celebrating our
75th business anniversary. We currently offer
a full line of quality Frozen Dough and Prefried
Thaw & Finish products. Mel-O-Cream® produces over
70 frozen dokut items including specialty , seasonal,
and jumbo products. The prefried line has climbed
to over 40 items since it's release in 1998 and
offers yeast raised, cake donuts, specialty donuts
and a selection of "Cake Donut of the Month" items.
The product lists continue to grow as the needs
of the customer change.
Mel-O-Cream® products
are currently sold throughout
the Midwest in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee,
Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio,
Wisconsin and
Illinois. , ~~~"'
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