Who would have thought a vegetable-glazed doughnut could be the crème de le crème at a bakery? That appears to be the case at Le Cave’s in South Tucson.
In a shabby pistachio-green building at 1219 S. 6th St., Tiffany Molina, 23, is quick on her feet. From running cashier, to answering the phone, to taking cake orders, and back, she takes a second to refill the vegetable doughnut trays.
"The recession hasn't hurt us," she said. "People always want their treats. That's one thing that doesn't change."
A 76-year-old established bakery is the treat their customers have been munching on for years. Le Cave's is a family business owned and run by Rudy Molina Jr., 48, and Rudy Molina Sr., 75, along with their daughter Tiffany. Basil Le Cave who passed it down to Rudy Molina Jr.'s grandfather, originally owned it. Today, it is "the best around," Molina said.
Their airy doughnuts are composed of a family vegan recipe and is fried in vegetable oil, hence its famous title.
"This is what we have: quality baked goods. Everything is fresh. This is stuff that makes people happy and nowadays people need to be happy," Molina Sr. said.
Regular customer Pat Yunt, 61, couldn't agree more.
"My husband has been coming in here since he was a little boy buying ice cream and doughnuts," Yunt said. "We used to live down the street in 2005, but moved to the west side. Doughnuts there are nothing like this,"
Le Cave is not only popular for doughnuts, but for the large selection of freshly baked cakes. Bakers who specialize in photo cakes mix various flavors from vanilla to coconut to lemon fillings. They could sell up to 110 to 140 cakes on a good Saturday, Molina Sr. said.
However, finding quality help to stay consistent with their baked goods is one challenge the Molina family face.
"There aren't quality workers out there anymore. You can bring anyone out of the street and call them bakers in 15 minutes because of frozen product," Molina said.
Due to such a high volume of orders against a limited staff, Molina Jr. assigned each baker a task: people create the batter, people fill the cakes, and people to ice and decorate, he said.
Molina Jr. decorates the cakes himself, along with four other decorators, including Tiffany.
"I've been practicing and doing it consistently on a daily basis. I've been doing this since I was eight years old. I was always around my dad and I picked it up over time," he said.
They used to have a wedding cake service, which will be back on their menu beginning next year, new and improved, traditional style.
"We want it to be old traditional style cakes. We have a more consistent clientele that like the old fashioned stuff like flowers made out of icing, not plastic or artificial," Molina Jr. said.
To keep up with the bakery's success, Molina Jr. works at the bakery full time, juggling the business and the baking. Expansion at multiple outlets and franchising, nationally and internationally, is an investment he is focusing on.
"I relate our success to quality. Krispy Kreme opened three times. We kicked their ass. Three times," Molina Sr. said.
This is the busiest time of the year, Molina Sr. said, so expect dozens of pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving and boxes of sugar cookies for the Christmas holidays.
Regular customer, Wayde Stay, calls it a Tucson tradition.
"I've been coming here most of my life and it's been here forever," Stay said. "Everybody that lives here comes here and everybody who knows about it comes here," he said.
