Seaver's Bakery is a locally owned and operated manufacturer of fried fruit pies and the freshest doughnuts in the Tri-Cities! We make on average 240,000 doughnuts per week in our retail location in downtown Kingsport, TN. Out of this location, we service a 4 state region and over 100 mile radius. Our Doughnuts are made from scratch daily, and all toppings, icings, and fillings are done by hand. When you eat a doughnut from Seaver’s Bakery, you are not only tasting a handmade masterpiece, but investing in local jobs, providing for local families, and supporting sustainable American manufacturing.
In addition to our manufacturing abilities, we offer our customers a variety of services!
Our Fundraising Program is an excellent way to raise some dough for your organization, school, or church!
Fresh ground coffee and espresso daily, and 96oz To-Go Coffee Carafes to take it with you!
Customized Doughnut orders for your meeting or party!
Special pricing for 10 dozen or more for your group or organization's Glazed Doughnut needs!
NEW Online Ordering - makes ordering ahead a breeze for pick-up at our Kingsport location, or for shipping on certain items!
Humble Beginnings My grandfather, Ralph Coomer, grew up in Big Stone Gap, Virginia and was a business-man from a young age. He told me stories about how he would sell sandwiches, cut hair, and caddy on the golf course to make a few extra dollars to support his family. He was driven, ambitious, and knew that he wanted to explore the world and leave a lasting legacy. He joined the military at a young age and traveled all across the world serving his country. While stationed at a base in Kansas, he met my grandmother, Ethel, the love of his life. Eventually, they made their way back to Kingsport, and Ralph started his first business venture: a franchise operation in the location we currently reside on East Center Street in 1968. Stepping Stones Ralph was passionate about the business, and they soon became the doughnut family of Kingsport. Ralph stressed the importance of customer service, quality products, and community involvement. He was a very generous and kind leader, and his personality shone through with the success of the business and the positive image it maintained.
In the early 1990’s, he purchased Seaver’s Bakery from the Seaver family, a company local to this area since the early 1940’s. At that time, Seaver’s was only a pie manufacturing facility. The 2 businesses were operated independently of each other due to restrictions in the franchise agreement he held.
A Leap of Faith Sadly, Ralph passed away in April of 2008. A year and a half later in December of 2009, we received a letter from corporate headquarters requesting that we sign a different agreement or else be shut down. It contained expenditures and constraints that we believed were not in the best interest of our family, our employees, or our community. We decided, what better moment to take a leap of faith in the opposite direction? In the spirit of Ralph and Ethel’s entrepreneurism and passion, we created a brand new doughnut recipe under the Seaver’s name, joined the 2 business ventures, and brought Seaver’s Bakery to Kingsport!
We started from scratch by designing new boxes, new recipes, and new signage. The only things that remained were our loyal staff, our family, and our dedication to prevail in the face of adversity. We truly exemplify the saying that “When life gives you lemons…” except we make lemon doughnuts! It has allowed us SO much more opportunity to be creative and to serve our community! We also had the honor of receiving the 2013 KOSBE Award for Small Manufacturing.
The Daily Donut Life Just as we have always done, our family is always hard at work ensuring that our customers receive top notch quality and customer service. We still make our doughnuts from scratch daily, and each one is topped and filled by hand. We’ve recently expanded our service abilities to include online ordering and custom order designs for birthdays, weddings and more! We enjoy giving back to our community by partnering with local businesses and organizations in many charitable events including St. Jude’s Give Thanks Walk, The Santa Train, The Lion’s Club Turtle Derby, The Junior League’s Jingle and Gingerbread event, and many more! We are also huge animal advocates and donate to local shelters and animal advocacy organizations regularly. Collectively, our family has over 10 adopted or rescued fur babies that we love on in our spare time. We also enjoy spending our time gardening, exercising, cooking, playing music, and of course, eating doughnuts!
We want to extend our most sincere Thank You to our community and customers for choosing to support us, your homegrown Doughnut experts! We are proud of our product, our employees, our name, and we love what we do!