{"id":139,"date":"2023-02-14T20:19:53","date_gmt":"2023-02-14T20:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worcester.edu\/magazine\/?p=139"},"modified":"2023-02-16T18:42:09","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T18:42:09","slug":"alumni-family-finds-sweet-success-one-doughnut-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worcester.edu\/magazine\/2023\/02\/14\/alumni-family-finds-sweet-success-one-doughnut-at-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni family finds sweet success one doughnut at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rocco\u2019s Doughnut Company, founded by Joe Astrella \u201991, has an apt company motto: \u201cJust a family bringing people together, one doughnut at a time.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>The variety of doughnut flavors and the company\u2019s social media following have grown quickly with the help of Rocco\u2019s children, who have all been key to his success: his son, Vincenzo Astrella \u201914; his daughter, Lia (Astrella) Scenna \u201918; and Domenic Astrella, who has taken classes at Worcester State.<\/p>\n

The confection company, which started with a shop in Millbury in 2018, now has three locations. The menu rotates, with 15 to 18 flavors at a time, and Rocco\u2019s has nearly 300,000 followers on TikTok who offer enthusiastic comments on the company\u2019s colorful and upbeat doughnut-making videos, like, \u201cThese look AMAZING!\u201d and \u201cI wish I could order from Cali!\u201d<\/p>\n

Among menu favorites are Fruity Pebbles, a colorful confection that evokes a favorite childhood breakfast cereal; an oversized gorgeously gooey chocolate frosted doughnut; a maple bacon delight; and perennial pleaser, cookies and cream.<\/p>\n

These menu mainstays share the shelves with a rotating cast of innovative delicacies that recently included the \u201ccannoli,\u201d a yeast-risen shell with house-made cannoli ricotta and vanilla-dip icing, topped with crush cannoli shells, and \u201ccaramel s\u2019mores,\u201d a raised doughnut dipped in chocolate icing, with a graham cracker cookie rim, topped with a perfectly toasted marshmallow. Flavors change monthly and seasonally, with pumpkin cheesecake being a recent runaway fall favorite.<\/p>\n

\"Close-up<\/p>\n

Inspiration for doughnut flavors comes from many sources, including bakeries and doughnut shops around the world. \u201cCreating flavors is probably one of the hardest things with this business,\u201d Lia said. \u201cIt\u2019s something that we\u2019re definitely working on right now. We are in the process of creating an in-house team of people just designated to flavor creating.\u201d<\/p>\n

After working in the corporate world for more than 25 years, Joe Astrella, who majored in business at Worcester State, says he\u2019d had enough. Earning a living at his own business is the best way to make dough. \u201cI love it,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are some days that are stressful, but I could never see myself going back to a nine-to-five job in a corporate office cubicle again. I would lose my mind. I am more excited now doing this than I ever have been.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rocco\u2019s is named in honor of Joe\u2019s late father, who owned a Dunkin\u2019 Donuts shop in the 1950s and later managed one in Worcester. The idea of continuing the doughnut tradition came from Joe\u2019s daughter Kerri, who graduated from Worcester State in 2018 with a nursing degree.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI was looking for something new, and one day Kerri said, \u2018Have you seen all these gourmet doughnut shops popping up?\u2019 Maybe you could do something like that,\u2019\u201d Joe recalls.<\/p>\n

Though it would be revisiting his father\u2019s Dunkin\u2019 Donuts roots, Joe had actually never learned how to make a doughnut. On the plus side, however, he and Vincenzo had run a side business for several years making T-shirts and helping companies with branding efforts, and so those business skills were at their disposal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Let me research it because I need a change in my life,\u2019\u201d Joe said. Encouragement from Vincenzo helped seal the deal for Joe\u2019s new direction. \u201cAfter Kerri suggested that he should do something with food, I knew he could take it and run with it,\u201d Vincenzo said. \u201cBecause, even to this day, if there\u2019s a church event or a family gathering, he does the food on a restaurant scale. So, I thought the idea of \u2018let\u2019s create a restaurant and have the family included in it\u2019 would work. When he gets an idea and has people supporting him, there\u2019s no stopping him.\u201d<\/p>\n

To get started, Joe scanned Craigslist and found equipment for sale from a bakery in Vermont that had gone out of business. Vincenzo and longtime friend Todd Businskas, who\u2019s been their head of production since the beginning, rented a box truck and headed north to pick it up. \u201cWe were still so new to this industry that we didn\u2019t even know to bring some better equipment to move all this stuff,\u201d Vincenzo said. \u201cMe and Todd just manhandled the heaviest of industrial equipment onto the truck, and we finally got it home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Rocco’s doughnuts on display at their Westborough location. (Photo by Nancy Sheehan)<\/p><\/div>\n

Meanwhile, Lia and Vincenzo began publicizing the doughnut shop on social media, complete with tantalizing images of the kinds of fancy flavors they planned to offer. \u201cWe were hyping this whole thing up, but we were also getting into the busy holiday season,\u201d Vincenzo said. \u201cThen in January we were like, \u2018All right, now we\u2019ve got to figure out how to make doughnuts.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Luckily, a friend connected them with someone who had owned a bakery for years. The baker agreed to teach Vincenzo, Domenic, and Todd how to make doughnuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was this old Italian guy named Joe who was about to retire,\u201d Vincenzo said. \u201cSo, he comes in and he says, \u2018All right, boys. What do you know about baking?\u2019 We\u2019re like, \u2018Zero,\u2019 and he loved that. He said, \u2018That\u2019s great, because you guys are teachable.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

After the doughnut-making lessons were completed, finally, an opening date was set and announced on social media. Then . . . panic set in. Joe felt something wasn\u2019t quite right with the dough.<\/p>\n

So, they called the baker and asked him to come back so they could get it perfect.<\/p>\n

When the store opened in March 2018, the doughnuts were undeniably amazing, and the Astrellas\u2019 months-long social media campaign had cultivated a large number of potential customers anxious to sample Rocco\u2019s treats.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a huge social media following before we even knew how to make doughnuts,\u201d Vincenzo said. \u201cWe opened with a bang.\u201d<\/p>\n

A big <\/em>bang.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was crazy,\u201d Joe said of opening day in Millbury. \u201cWe had a line going down the street and around the corner. Policemen were coming and telling us, \u2018What are you guys doing? You can\u2019t park on the street.\u2019 We sold out in two hours. We didn\u2019t have enough doughnuts for everybody, and people were like, \u2018What do you mean you don\u2019t have any?\u2019 But how to make the right number of doughnuts was one of those things we had to figure out over time.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, five years in and with a payroll of about 30 people, family members are still hands-on in production and simultaneously focused on building a company structure that will support future growth. That\u2019s where Lia\u2019s role comes in. After her daughter was born, she left her job as an account executive at a major cosmetics company to join the family business. \u201cI started off part-time just doing catering sales and booking,\u201d she said. \u201cThen I slowly took over scheduling of all the stores and then doing the payroll and then events, which we want to do more of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those events regularly include doing pop-ups with Tree House Brewing Company, and recently, Tuscan Village in Salem, N.H. \u201cWe started in the reverse from where people usually start,\u201d Joe said. \u201cMost people begin with pop-ups then go to brick and mortar. We started with brick and mortar and are finding out we want to do more popups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Joe says, the family\u2019s main goal has moved from just making the best doughnut around to growing one of the best organizations around. <\/strong>\u201cA friend of mine who\u2019s very successful in business told me a long time ago that you need to get to a point where you spend more time working on your business and not in it. So, I\u2019m at that point now finally. It took me five years to get things right and get comfortable enough, but now I can focus on where we go from here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photos by Matt Wright ’10<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Rocco\u2019s Do\u2019s and Do-nuts:<\/span><\/h4>\n

\"Close-upHow many servings per doughnut?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Lia:<\/strong> It\u2019s actually a good question because when people say, \u201cHow many calories in a doughnut,\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cWell, you should say calories per serving <\/em>because our doughnuts are definitely more than one serving.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Joe:<\/strong> I would say two servings each because they\u2019re double the size of other doughnuts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vincenzo:<\/strong> I just eat the whole doughnut. Plenty of people do.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fork and knife, or no?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Joe:<\/strong> The only doughnut you might need a fork for is the strawberries and cream because that\u2019s like a sandwich. It\u2019s cream and strawberries in the middle, and I would use a fork and knife for that, otherwise you get it all over your face. For some, though, the messier, the better, so it\u2019s all good.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the perfect drink to have with a Rocco\u2019s doughnut?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Joe<\/strong>: Rocco\u2019s coffee. Our coffee comes from a local roaster in Worcester, so we\u2019re able to source our coffee or right from the same city that I grew up in. I love our iced coffee. It\u2019s the best around, but I have to admit I don\u2019t drink hot coffee. I have to put a shot of chocolate flavor or something in it, but Vinny drinks it straight\u2014no sugar, nothing.<\/p>\n

What should you do if you can\u2019t decide which doughnut you want?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Joe:<\/strong> That\u2019s easy. Buy \u2019em all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Top image: Joe Astrella, second from left, and his children Vicenzo, Domenic, and Lia are all part of the success of Rocco\u2019s Doughnuts.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rocco\u2019s Doughnut Company, founded by Joe Astrella \u201991, has an apt company motto: \u201cJust a family bringing people together, one doughnut at a time.\u201d\u00a0The variety of doughnut flavors and the company\u2019s social media following have grown quickly with the help of Rocco\u2019s children, who have all been key to his success: his son, Vincenzo Astrella […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":239,"featured_media":142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[28,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-spring-2023"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAlumni family finds sweet success one doughnut at a time | Worcester State University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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