TREMONTON – From the moment the window opens on the Yoder Family Kitchen food truck, customers often begin lining up for a taste of the family’s freshly made glazed doughnuts.
For Henry and Mary Beth Yoder, the popularity of their doughnuts was something they never expected when they began the business in the Spring of 2022.
“We started cooking the doughnuts in May of 2022 and it just took off from there,” Henry Yoder said.
The idea came from Henry’s brother and sister-in-law who operate a similar business in Virginia. The Yoders then developed their own version using a family recipe.
“We use a secret family recipe we got from my sister and her husband and tweaked it a little,” Yoder said.
Today, making doughnuts is a family operation. Mary Beth, Henry, Mary Beth’s sister and their children all help run the business. Each family member has a job in the process, from preparing the dough to shaping, frying and glazing the finished product.
The dough is made from scratch using a commercial mixer. Once the ingredients are combined, the dough is placed on trays and allowed to rise. The children then help shape the dough before it is placed in the fryer.
When the doughnuts turn golden brown, they are removed from the hot oil and dipped into the glaze. The finished doughnuts are placed on racks where customers can watch them cool.
No two doughnuts look exactly alike.
Their irregular shapes are part of what makes the doughnuts distinctive, but the Yoders say the taste is what keeps customers coming back.
Even on what Yoder considers a slow day, the family can make and sell about 1,200 doughnuts.
The Yoders have lived near Tremonton for about 15 years and have raised six children in the area. Their food truck travels throughout Box Elder, Weber and Cache counties, allowing the family to bring its doughnuts to different communities and events.
“We move around to different locations during the week and found the Ogden Farmers Market to be very productive,” Yoder said.
Doughnuts, however, are only part of the family business. The Yoders also operate a commercial canning business, making products such as jams, salsa and pickles.
They generally make doughnuts Thursdays and Saturdays while spending the rest of the week working on their other food products.
For customers who visit the food truck, the doughnuts are not the only thing that may catch their attention. The women and girls working inside the truck wear long-sleeved clothing and floor-length dresses, along with white head coverings known as kapps.
The Yoders are Mennonites, a Christian religious tradition with roots in the Anabaptist movement. Mennonite groups differ in their practices, including clothing, worship and approaches to modern technology.
For the Yoder family, their clothing and lifestyle are expressions of their religious beliefs.
“Because we are Mennonites, we don’t do any online activity,” Yoder said. “We have a friend who posts stuff on Facebook. We don’t use the internet except for tax information and other modern technology.”
The family also chooses not to use television or radio.
Their approach to technology is one of the things that sometimes prompts customers to ask questions about their faith.
“We get questions about our religion,” Yoder said. “We are Bible-abiding Christians and we live simple lives. We do have values that prohibit technology. There are enough detriments out there. It’s just the way we choose to live.”
Yoder said the family does not want their lifestyle to create a barrier between them and their customers.
“People don’t have to be afraid of us. We are just people,” he said.
The Yoders are part of a local Mennonite community of about 18 to 20 households, Yoder said. While some Mennonites in the area may use modern technology, the Yoder family chooses to follow its own traditions.
For the Yoders, the food truck provides more than a way to make a living. It has become a way for the family to work together while sharing a product rooted in family tradition with communities throughout northern Utah.
“We’re happy in Utah,” Yoder said. “It’s been a great place to live.”
And for the customers who line up outside the truck, the result of that family tradition is simple: a freshly fried doughnut covered in sweet glaze.
Dining and Cooking