Maple Donuts Inc. Under New Management After Passing of Owner/Founder Charles Burnside

Maple Donuts Inc. formally announced the passing of Owner/Founder Charles Burnside. His son, Nathaniel Burnside, has been named President of both the York and Erie, PA operations. His son, Damian Burnside, will assume the position of Vice President. 

Maple Donuts is a leading producer of frozen bakery products for In-Store and Food Service Bakeries since 1946, founded by Charles F. Burnside. High quality donuts with the emphasis on guaranteed freshness was and is the philosophy Charles F. Burnside has used ever since he purchased donuts from his father for $.20/bag and sold them from his bicycle basket for $.30/bag. Maple Donuts started on Maple Street in York, Pennsylvania. Thus in 1946, the name was born—The Maple Donut Shop. The name Maple Donuts evolved over the years as Charlie opened additional stores throughout the city limits. What started as Charlie making the donuts and his wife, Sue, selling them at the store expanded to sales outside of the York City as Charlie realized what a superior product he had developed. The next step was wrapping the donuts and selling them through vending companies.

On January 1, 1969, Charlie purchased Maple Donuts from his father and became incorporated. Strong sales growth and expansion into new products as well as new markets has been the trend ever since. Sales through different distribution channels take Maple Donuts Inc. nationwide as well as the international market, making the company one of the largest independent producers of donuts in the country. Our varied customer base includes: grocery chains, in-store bakeries, vending companies, caterers, schools, dairies, and several types of institutions, with private label as our specialty.

In September 2002, Maple Donuts Inc. acquired the assets of a competitor in Lake City, Pennsylvania. This acquisition more than doubled the capacity of the company as well as added the immediate potential to sell new products such as frozen pie shells. Charlie’s son, Nat, took over operations as CEO of the Lake City facility. Since its acquisition in 2002, production has grown from one shift per week to a 24/7 operation including high-capacity lines that allow us to complement and support the company objective of realizing incremental sales of frozen items that the facility was designed to produce. 

Both the York and Lake City plants continue to experience growth and attributes that success to maintaining high standards or product quality, excellent customer relationships, superior job performance and the unwillingness to compromise these standards.