When customers walk away with a box of donuts from Maverick’s, they see their slogan: “Donuts. Done. Different.”
The recently-opened Milton location (850 Main St. E) is run by husband and wife Bilal Shahid and Maryam Bilal from Pakistan, who've baked their shop's ethos into each donut.
That begs the question, what sets them apart?
“I love the fact that it was a fresh bakery concept,” Maryam said. “We’re not selling anything that is old.”
She elaborated: “If it’s frozen, warmed and served, it’s a completely different quality.”
This way of doing things garnered customer loyalty very early. On the second day of their opening, the pair realized they already had repeat customers, some of whom were present and buying fritters during Milton Today’s Tuesday visit.
“I think that was pretty amazing. I wasn’t expecting that. He was actually our second customer. He came in the second day to get the same thing he got on the first day,” Maryam said. “He yelled across the road about how ‘your fritters are the best.’”
“What sets us apart is that we have different [dough] bases and we have different flavours,” explained Bilal Shahid.
Some of their summer items up for grabs now are the s’mores and key lime pie donuts. Their fall choices are some familiar ones like pumpkin spice and apple caramel.
The couple share a favourite, Maverick’s cherry-glazed. That is saying something because Bilal Shahid dislikes cherry flavour in most other foods because to him it tastes like medicine. But he's all too happy to call his shop’s cherry glazed donut his top choice.
These donuts require plenty of precision to make. Depending on the flavour, glazes would be applied at certain temperatures to optimize taste.
“Something like the cinnamon sugar [donut] is dressed warm to hot,” Maryam said. “The powdered sugar one is dressed warm to cool.”
The perennial companion to donuts, coffee, has not been forgotten. “We pretty much can do any kind of coffee. Cappuccinos, lattes… we can offer anything iced or warm. The coffee bean we use is specifically roasted for Maverick’s. The machine we are using is calibrated specifically for that bean,” Maryam said in emphasizing how unique their coffee is.
The couple seem well-suited to run an establishment like Maverick’s. The shop’s debut a few weeks ago represents a dream come true for husband, Bilal. He says he does not dread “waking up in the morning to go for a job.”
“Today, I came in at four in the morning and there was no regret or tiredness," he told Milton Today.
“If the job is not what you expected or the environment is not as good, when you wake up you are regretting that you have to go to a job.”
The shop is also hosting a photo contest. The top 10 finalists will have their photos displayed on one of the shop’s walls called the Sugar Circle, with the overall winner earning a special prize. Instructions are on the bakery’s Instagram account, @MavericksMilton.
More on the shop can be found on MavericksDonuts.com/Milton.