A campus tradition since 1969: 55 years of Buckeye Donuts

Donuts, coffee and gyros, oh my!

Founded in 1969 by Greek immigrant Jim Barouxis, his son George Barouxis and their business partner George Sauter, Buckeye Donuts — best known for its maple, vanilla and chocolate long johns along with its iconic buckeye donut served 24 hours a day — has become one of the Ohio State Columbus campus’ most iconic staples in the 55 years it has operated on High Street.

The family business is now operated by Jimmy Barouxis, making him a third-generation business owner within the Barouxis family.

The shop, Jimmy Barouxis said, was originally a Jolly Roger — then known as “Jolly Pirate” — donut shop. Eventually, the shop became one of the busiest Jolly Pirates in the system before Jim and George Barouxis decided they didn’t want to be a part of the franchise anymore, breaking away and changing the name to “Buckeye Donuts” in 1978.

“I was a very young boy when that Jolly Roger sign came down, and I remember that change,” Jimmy Barouxis said. “Other than the name and the logo, there really hasn’t been much change since then.”

That, Barouxis said, is what has kept Buckeye Donuts alive all these years.

“There really isn’t much tradition on High Street anymore. A lot of the old places that I remember — like Larry’s Bar and the Blue Danube and Bernie’s Bagels — those places are gone. We’re really all that’s left,” Barouxis said. “Donuts though, donuts never go out of style.”

Though he ran the business throughout his roughly six years as a student at Franklin University, Jimmy Barouxis said he officially took over Buckeye Donuts from his father in 2001, shortly after graduating.

“My dad had been doing it for a while, and he was tired, and the shop needed new blood and I needed a job,” Jimmy Barouxis said. “But it wasn’t so much as a job, it was that I love this place, and the job was kind of secondary.”

By then, having grown up in the shop, Jimmy Barouxis said Buckeye Donuts had become a second home.

“My dad and grandpa would bring me down to the shop a lot, almost daily, when I was growing up. If my grandparents were babysitting me, they would drive me down and check up on things,” Jimmy Barouxis said. “I was a little kid, so I loved the donut shop. Getting unlimited donuts and hot chocolate — what kid wouldn’t want to hang out at the donut shop?”

It wasn’t long after taking over that Jimmy Barouxis said he realized the shop needed something new; in 2002, he added a Greek component — gyros, fries and Greek salads — to the menu, which is available 24 hours a day.

“When I added the Greek food, it doubled the business within a year,” Barouxis said. “When we first started it, it was hot. It was called the No. 1 Combo, and it was a gyro, fries and soda for $5, and there would be a line out the door. There was actually a point in time when we were selling more gyros than donuts.”

It was at that point that Eric Bretschneider, the current general manager of Buckeye Donuts, said he began spending most of his time in the shop. An Ohio State student at the time, Bretschneider said he spent nearly every night there, just studying and “hanging out.”

“I was always here anyway,” Bretschneider said. “I was a late-night person, so I was always here studying.”

Bretschneider said he was there so often that he got the job purely by showing up for it.

“They hired a new guy at that time and I was like, ‘Why did you hire a guy? I’m right here,’ and while they were training that guy, I hung out and followed him around and so I got trained and left my number,” Bretschneider said. “The new guy didn’t even end up showing up the next day, so they called me.”

It was this same fortuitous mentality that landed Bretschneider the role of general manager nearly 10 years later, he said.

“They didn’t have a GM before me, it was just Jimmy [Barouxis] doing all the things and it got to a point in the business where it got to be too much for just one person,” Bretschneider said. “I had been working nights for a while and wanted to shift to working days, and so when I shifted to days I just took over doing HR, inventory and payroll and kind of just became the GM.”

Even as a student, Bretschneider said he knew Buckeye Donuts was one of the most distinct fragments of Columbus’ night scene.

“I wish Columbus had a better night scene, not necessarily bars and clubs, but just places for people who just want to be out late at night and be social,” Bretschneider said. “If you want to go somewhere to hang out late-night with your friends, there really aren’t many options for places to go except Buckeye Donuts.”

Bretschneider wasn’t the only one who knew how special a late-night spot like Buckeye Donuts was. In 2003, Jimmy Barouxis said Buckeye Donuts was featured on Season 4, Episode 9 of Dave Attell’s early 2000s Comedy Central show, titled “Insomniac,” which covered 24-hour, late-night food spots in different cities.

“I remember that was a big deal at the time. People loved that show,” Jimmy Barouxis said. “Now, most of the places from that episode are gone, but we are still here.”

Attell wasn’t the only famous visitor to Buckeye Donuts. Jimmy Barouxis said shortly after he took over the business in 2001, he remembers Prince coming in for a late-night donut and coffee after a show, along with later visits from Woody Hayes, George Steinbrenner, Allen Ginsberg, Foster the People, The Black Keys and the Arctic Monkeys.

“I remember when Prince came in, and it was unexpected and so exciting,” Barouxis said. “But one of my favorite stories — which my poetry teacher told me one time — was that he had brought Allen Ginsberg here in the ‘70s, and they just sat and had coffee together, and I remember thinking that that was so cool.”

Though having famous customers is always exciting, Jimmy Barouxis said it is the regular customers that have kept the business alive for so long.

“We get a lot of alumni who come to the city once or twice a year and they will come in and tell us that they can’t come to Columbus without stopping here,” Jimmy Barouxis said. “We remember so many of them, you know, I mean my dad and my grandpa and me, we’ve been here a long time, so even if it’s been years, I recognize people. There aren’t any places that I can say I haven’t been to in 20 years and they remember me, but here we have that.”

Along with the iconic Buckeye Donuts long johns, Jimmy Barouxis said the blueberry cake donut and the buckeye donut are among the shop’s bestsellers.

“The buckeyes are popular on the weekends, especially when there are home games,” Jimmy Barouxis said. “Buckeye fans have an insatiable appetite for anything buckeye. They love that stuff and, you know what, I love buckeye stuff too.”

The shop, Jimmy Barouxis said, is particularly unique in the fact that it serves breakfast from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and continues serving donuts, coffee and Greek food all 24 hours the shop is open.

“A coffee shop that’s open at night, I don’t know, there’s just something romantic about it,” Jimmy Barouxis said. “You can come in here at 4 a.m. and get a donut and coffee and even a meal. I mean, 4 a.m., that’s an ungodly hour.”

Jimmy Barouxis said throughout the many years he has spent in the shop, he has grown a deep appreciation for what the business means to his family and to their community.

“The customers are everything, and they’re what has kept us going but, also, we just love doing it,” Jimmy Barouxis said. “I mean, we wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t love it.”

Jimmy Barouxis said he is proud to be part of one of Ohio State’s oldest campus traditions, and will continue to keep the tradition alive for many years to come.

“Campus is huge, but we’re a small tradition that belongs to this place and here we are, 55 years later,” Barouxis said. “We’re not planning on going anywhere either. We’re going to be here for a long time.”