By Melanie Slone
“He would go every day to a hamburger spot, and he didn’t know how to read the menu because he only knew Spanish…He would order the same thing, fries, every day because he didn’t know how to order anything else,” Kimberly Joanne Aguirre (Kimy) says about her father, an immigrant from El Salvador who came to the United States at 18.
Today, he is an entrepreneur and self-made millionaire. “Someone with such limited resources was able to build what he did,” says Kimy. “I get my entrepreneurial spirit from my dad.”
Kimy, the founder and CEO of Doatnut, says her father is her inspiration. “I always think anything’s possible. When I dream big, I really believe that.”
Healthy Doughnuts
Kimy loves cooking for her family, including her five children, and eating healthy is part of the plan. “I’m Hispanic, and we are one of the highest consumers of sugar,” says Kimy. “We celebrate around sugar, but we also have high rates of diabetes.”
During Covid, her parents fell very ill. “My parents landed in the hospital. They had complications from Covid, and they had underlying health issues like diabetes.” She looked for healthy recipes for them, including her special doughnuts made with oats, sweet potatoes, and monk fruit, which did not cause sugar spikes.
Kimy realized she didn’t want to face similar health issues down the road. “I wanted to lose weight,” she says Kimy, “but I have a big sweet tooth, which is a big problem when you’re trying to lose weight…”
Her special doughnuts with 0-calorie monk fruit helped take the edge off her craving for sugar while still being a nutrient-dense product. They are also dairy- and gluten-free. Because they are made from oats, she called them “Doatnuts.”
She began to lose weight. “I was going to the gym, and people start noticing that I’m shedding some pounds,” she says. She told them about her Doatnuts, and soon she was selling them to her friends and to other gyms. Her journey to lose weight, “Kimy Gets Skinny,” became the name of her LLC, and the Doatnut brand was born.
The Shark Tank Swim
Doatnut is a self-funded business that started very small. “I started baking in Covid, and I would sell from gym to gym,” says Kimy. “It started at very humble beginnings and with limited resources.”
To grow, she needed a platform that would give her a voice. The opportunity arose when she was chosen to be on season 16 of the TV show Shark Tank, where she pitched her idea to investors. “I just believed I could, so I went with it…I saw my dad do very impossible things, so I’ve always felt like I could do impossible things, so here we are.”
After her November 2024 appearance on Shark Tank, her Doatnut shop in Oceanside saw an overnight boom in business. Plus, the e-commerce side of the business surged. “In a matter of minutes, we had 7,000 orders.”
Suddenly, they couldn’t keep up with the demand. They had orders from as far away as Minnesota and Florida. At the same time, the exposure increased sales so much that they were able to invest back in the business.
Kimy took it as a new challenge to overcome. “It’s stretched me in ways that I never thought I would be stretched in,” she says, such as contacting Chinese companies to get more shipping boxes. “It’s been very rewarding to know that we’re able to do that,” she says. “We’re able to mass produce quite a few Doatnuts in the limited space that we have. It’s been quite the journey.”
A Team Backed by Community
Kimy’s husband Mario Francisco Aguirre, Jr., who has an MBA, makes up the other half of the team as the chief financial officer. “I bring the money in, and he manages it, administers it,” says Kimy.
Mario talks about how they turned to community and friends for support. “We’d never been in business this way, at least not to this level of commitment, so it was a lot of learning,” he says. “We took the risk to rent the space, and I asked for a lot of help from people that could support me.”
He says the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce offers help for small businesses, as does the Latino Business Committee. “We’ve been learning along the way where to get more product faster, cheaper, to pass on the savings to consumers,” says Mario. “Trial and error.”
He notes that he used to be overweight, and Doatnut has given him a healthier option. “It’s changed our whole family’s dynamic.”
Mario encourages others to look for help if they want to start a small business. “There are so many places and organizations and people within your community that that are there to support you.”
He says Latino families sometimes don’t have much hope for starting a business, and he wants people to overcome that trend and work with others. “I think that if you align yourself with people who are truly there to support you, you can be successful.”
Dreamers and doers make the best teams, says Mario. “This can only be done through a shared vision.” If you have a vision, he says, “go for it, and all those things that are in your way will no longer exist.”
The pair had friends from the neighborhood and from church who had the skills needed to help them, like painters, food workers, and even architects. “The people that you know are your biggest resources,” says Kimy.
The Oceanside Chamber of Commerce has a checklist it follows to help small business owners, including for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “They published me in a local magazine for the chamber that got me business,” says Kimy. She has also built strong relationships within the chamber. Her advice to others is, “take advantage of all those little coffee mixers that the city puts on.”
Latino Entrepreneurship
Kimy has a strong entrepreneurial spirit. As a Latino, she says, “I feel like you have to work extra hard to prove yourself.” She believes in her community. “We’re hard-working people. When I meet other fellow Latino business owners, I get that same feeling,” she adds. “We just really want to root each other on and see each other succeed.”
Kimy believes Latinos have one of the strongest work ethics. “We have this drive and this passion…I’ve seen it in my own dad, which is my biggest example. I see it in other Latino entrepreneurs. When I see somebody that’s trying to start, I’m their biggest cheerleader.”
Mario, whose father is Ecuadorian and mother is Mexican, adds, “I think there needs to be more of us representing the business community. He says Latino parents might not want to see their kids struggle like they did, but it’s important to take risks. “The struggle is what got them there, and me here, and the next generation there. I have a responsibility to keep the same level of momentum that my mom and dad have had for themselves in the world I live in today. I show my kids that they can do it, too, whatever dream they have.”
Get Your Doatnuts
Doatnuts are doughnut-shaped pastries. Oats are pulverized into flour onsite, and sweet potatoes, egg whites, and monk fruit are added.
The flavors vary from week to week, and there are six staples. “It’s basically a superfood dressed up as a doughnut,” says Kimy, “and it has the consistency of a sponge cake with icing.”
2530 Vista Way, F, Oceanside
Fire Mountain Center
(760) 231-1319
