At age 82, Kelly Grant Jr. is two years older than Mel-O-Cream Donuts International, where he now serves as chairman of the board. He also still comes to work every day.
“If you enjoy something, keep doing it,” Grant says in his matter-of-fact way about the business, which was started by his father, Kelly Sr., as a small retail shop in 1932.
With breaks only for college and two years with the Marine Corps in Korea, Grant has been part of the family business from the time his father considered him old enough to go to work at about age 12.
Most of the Mel-O-Cream business is wholesale these days, with products sold to supermarket chains. There are still four independently owned franchise stores in Springfield and one in Lincoln. But the focus shifted from retail sales to wholesale just a few years after Kelly Sr. took over a Mel-O-Cream Donut franchise in Springfield in 1932.
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