March 25, 2026

Sioux Falls-area fans of a Centerville bakery’s popular Zebra Donuts don’t have to drive as far to enjoy them now.

The owners of Zebra King Donuts are allowing shops in Lennox and Canton to sell the trademarked doughnuts, which are made with both regular and chocolate raised dough. They’re glazed and topped with chocolate icing. And that distribution area is expected to grow.

“When we talked about where to go, we were talking about mom-and-pop operations where we would benefit each other,” said Bryan Hille, who owns the bakery with his wife, Brooke. “We hope that they bring people into their doors to look at their products and buy their products.”

That’s happening at The Stable in Lennox, a Western wear and farm/ranch supply store that owner Melinda Franklin opened in October 2025. She started selling Zebras and other doughnuts about a month ago.

“I’ll have people come down and say ‘I didn’t know you had all this too,” Franklin said. “They’ll bee-bop around the store, and I’ve actually made some sales because of the doughnuts.”

The Stable sells them after 9 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. Franklin picks up the doughnuts in Centerville and finishes the filled ones in Lennox, re-creating treats like the bakery’s Bismarcks, Maple Sticks and Cream Delights. She also sells the bakery’s new cake doughnuts, which come in six flavors: birthday cake, cherry, blueberry, chocolate, lemon and plain. Customers can place orders in advance.

Laura’s Lattes first offered the signature Zebra Donuts on Thursday last week and sold several dozen in 15 minutes, manager Daneen Gannon said. Purchases were limited to a dozen, with no pre-orders. The Canton coffee shop picked up more to sell on Friday, and those were gone within two hours. The plan is to sell them every Thursday beginning at 6:30 a.m.

“My whole thought process is to bring those doughnuts here to bring in another clientele, and hopefully they will buy a drink from me,” Gannon said. “The goal is to get you to buy a coffee while you are here.” The coffee shop already makes its own caramel and cinnamon rolls and scones, and also sells muffins.

Cream & Sugar in Beresford sold a test round on Friday, and they were gone in a couple of hours, co-owner Alec Atwood said. He said the coffee shop will start selling them two days a week once Royal King Donuts has a delivery van because he doesn’t have them time to pick them up.

Will the Zebra Donut make it to Sioux Falls?

Hille said he called a few businesses here to see if they were interested but didn’t hear back from anyone. He said he’d be happy to add the right partner as long as it wasn’t too close to the current distribution towns or if they were sold on different days. The same is true of other towns.

Distribution pickup days for Zebra King are Wednesdays and Thursdays, and the retailers can choose which days they want to sell the doughnuts.

The Hilles bought a delivery van and plans to do pop-up sales in cities across southeast South Dakota -– and that definitely would include Sioux Falls, he said. First, though, he has to figure out how to add a cooling system that would ensure the quality of the doughnuts.

Hille knows the draw of the Centerville bakery’s doughnuts. Before the couple bought the business three years ago, he would drive from Hartford, where they were living at the time, to the shop – then known as Royal Bake Shop — for the Cream Delights. Those are Bismarcks covered in powdered sugar and filled with white buttercream icing.

He is licensed to make former co-owner Keith Ellis’ trademarked Zebra Donut and is following Ellis’ other recipes, and so far has tackled making about a dozen varieties of doughnuts, including cinnamon twists and apple fritters.

“I’m not a baker; I don’t have the talent,” he acknowledged, noting, though, that he’s hoping to add English muffin toaster bread to the lineup this year. Wife Brooke helps by filling the doughnuts and adding toppings.

Ellis still pops in occasionally to check on the Hilles.

“He’ll take one and rip it apart and check the consistency, the taste. I’m glad that he still does that. It means a lot to me that they meet his quality standards.”

The Hilles have followed Ellis’ practice of closing the bakery to customers for the winter. They haven’t set a reopening date yet but are hoping for the first week of April with hours on Fridays and Saturdays.

“Both Brooke and I very much appreciate our customers and the support we get,” Hille said. “It’s humbling to know the ends they will go to get them. It’s such a small thing, but it makes people so happy.”

Editor’s note: Lava’s Coffee in Harrisburg announced March 26 that it also will sell Zebra Donuts. The first ones will be available April 2. Customers can preorder as many as they want by 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 31, or try their luck and stop in when the coffee shop opens at 6:30 a.m. April 2. Lava’s did not return a message for details on how often it will sell them, but Hille said he thinks the coffee shop will offer them once a week.