A new doughnut shop is opening in Aurora that its owners say will feature unique creations inspired by flavors from around the world.
The mom and pop venture known as Petit Three at 3015 E. New York St. is set to have a soft opening for friends and family on Friday. On Sunday, the shop will open to the public.
Owners Paul and Bilin Bancherau of Naperville are excited about their venture which they promise will bring a unique experience not found at corporate chain doughnut shops.
Paul Bancherau, 40, said the new shop represents a dream in the making after having worked the past 19 years as a sales professional who started right out of college.
“I started working in industrial distribution and currently work for a Japanese bearing manufacturer as a sales manager,” said Bancherau, who graduated from Monmouth College with a degree in international business and economics. “The goal, for me, is to exit corporate America within a few years’ time once we get our shop and concept going with at least three locations.”
The business name Petit Three, he said, is based on a French confection called petit fours – small cakes that were baked “during the fourth stage of a conventional old school outdoor oven.”
“The first of the day was the hottest – you’d bake the bread, and then your pies, and before the night was over at the lowest temperature the French would put in pastries to bake and those are called petit fours,” he said. “Our family – there are three of us including our son – and we’re making fresh doughnuts in small batches with real ingredients. It fits that kind of French vibe, and we landed on the name.”
The idea to offer doughnuts versus another product, he said, was born “out of my traveling for years.”
“I call myself a coffee snob and I enjoy a great cup of Joe and traveling all the states that I’ve been to,” he said. “I seek out the coffee shops. There is a place in Seattle where I came across a small doughnut that was made fresh and warm with different flavors and it kind of planted a seed in my head. My wife has always tinkered in the kitchen baking different things and I told her I came across this mini-doughnut concept with great coffee.”
Months passed and the pandemic then hit, which gave Bilin Bancherau, 39, more time to tinker in the kitchen. She asked her husband a lot of questions about the doughnuts and flavor profiles “and from there it kind of spurred the idea that we could really do this.”
Friends and neighbors became taste-testers for the doughnuts, she said.
“I have the passion for baking,” she said. “I thought a lot about being in a bakery as a college graduate and kept that in the back of my mind. When COVID hit, I had a lot of time and was making bread. Paul proposed the doughnut idea and I said let’s give it a try.”
She said she visited plenty of doughnut shops “and was amazed at how beautiful doughnuts could be.”
“That research opened my eyes. I’m a person if I’m interested in something I’ll do everything to pursue it, and I started to experiment every day in the kitchen for 18 months,” she said.
The shop plans to offer 12 types of doughnuts including 10 signature items with the other two being tabbed as “featured doughnuts” that will include flavors like Campfire Party – a deconstructed S’more.
“For us, those featured doughnuts are slightly elevated from what our signature doughnuts already are,” Paul Bancherau said.
Gluten-free doughnuts will also be available.
Bilin Bancherau said she has tried to make flavors that “everybody knows” but because of her Asian roots and traveling, is looking to make things a little more unique.
“I have a flavor called olive pistachio that I really love,” she said of doughnut flavors. “We also have a blueberry basil that is very refreshing and a jalapeno cornbread.”
While the owners say that “the star of the party will always be the doughnut,” Paul Bancherau’s coffee fix figures to be met by “an Italian super-automatic espresso machine” procured from a company they are partnering with from Minnesota.
“We are largely making espresso-based drinks and this machine will allow us to make a perfect, consistent shot each time,” he said. “This machine and the recipes we’ve developed, it’s two concepts in one – a doughnut shop and a coffee shop.”
The couple recognizes there are larger corporate doughnut makers in the marketplace but are hoping “to create an experience that delights each of our customers.”
“When you come into our space, we understand that the product you are going to receive is far more elevated than the commercial doughnut that people buy, that’s what we’re promising to deliver to our customer,” Paul Bancherau said. “That and a warmth and friendliness. Everyone we’ve hired smiled at us when we interviewed them. You can’t teach that.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
