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Karl R. Josker | all galleries >> Buffalo >> This Was Buffalo > Freddie's Doughnuts
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01-OCT-2004 Karl R. Josker

Freddie's Doughnuts

This was Freddie's Doughnuts, which for over fifty years sold what were arguably Buffalo's best doughnuts, here at 1655 Main St. The founder and owner, Frederick (Freddie) Maier closed his business on February 7, 1989.

May 2009: this building was demolished.

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Gayle Calhoun 20-Sep-2018 17:37
Was there anyone working for Freddy's with last name McElwain OR lusk? Your website just popped up on my email this A.M. See my email from 2012.
Guest 20-Dec-2012 02:39
Remember stopping, late at night, with my parents on the way home from beach in Canada. Always a big deal to us kids.
Guest 02-Dec-2012 16:06
I remember Freddie's Donuts in the 49's. It was first store in Buffalo to have an electric eye that opened the door automatically. It was magic to this young girl.
Guest 09-Jul-2011 13:43
In the late 1970's and early 1980's I worked at a deli in Buffalo which sold Freddie's Doughnuts. Oh, my gosh, they were the best! The peanut sticks were a favorite, but the glazed doughnuts were a close second. I would like to find something very similar to those the next time I visit the city. Who can duplicate those wonderful tastes?
Guest 11-Jun-2011 18:56
Wow, I grew up in and around Buffalo and was just sitting in my kitchen thinking about Freddies' Peanut Sticks from back 50 some years ago. Typed peanut sticks into Google and the first link that came up was this picture. I recognized it immediately.
Joe 19-Dec-2010 01:43
Wasn't there a location opened in Clarence in the mid 80's?
Toby 27-Nov-2010 17:48
Paula's Donuts on Kenmore Ave. at Englewood has Outstanding Peanut Sticks along with their other donuts and baked goods. I vaguely remember having Freddie's a couple times when I was a kid. Remember the boxes with the picture.
Gayle Calhoun 26-Sep-2010 02:41
My dad was related to the owner of Freddie's Donuts in Buffalo. I remember being in the shop when I was small. 1948??????????? I don't remember exactly but I think the owner was his brother. Please contact me. yellowumbrella@comcast.net
DICK MONACO 29-Aug-2010 06:11
worked there during world war 11. Helped open Court st. store with Freddie's future son in-law.
Rose 09-Feb-2010 18:00
Have been thinking about Freddies for years since moved from Lockport,N.Y. to Oklahoma,we traveled to Buffalo often for medical reasons at childrens and mom allways stopped at Freddies,especially loved the peanut sticks,wish could still get some now,phot brings back lots of memories
Guest 26-Nov-2009 13:33
I found a great photo postcard of Freddie's on ebay and have added it to my donut collection. Never had the opportunity to taste their donuts but they sure sounded gooded from everyoe's description.Anyone who emails me with a request for a photo will get one by email. The postcard is a great view and was posted in 1956.
spacearchive (at symbol) insightbb.com
Bob 06-Oct-2009 14:23
Dunkin Donuts probably has the closest thing to a Freddies peanut stick then anyone else in WNY
Guest 14-Sep-2009 01:37
Did anyone keep their recipes? I have never tasted a better peanut stick doughnut in my life.Can't find one anywhere today.
jackie 17-Jul-2009 10:51
i grew up on harvard ave. just around the corner from freddys donuts, so needless to say i had my share of them. i was always very talkative, when my grandfather couldnt take hearing my mouth any longer he would always send my sister and i to get the most delicious donuts in the world. after a while i didnt know if i really wanted to talk or if i just knew i was going to freddys(lol). freddys closed when i was 10 and until this day they are still the best donuts i have ever had krispy kreme(lol) not even close.
Chris 30-May-2009 08:54
Sorry to say but the building was torn down in the past few weeks......My mom and dad still tell me about how great their donuts were simply the best in Buffalo....
Lou 01-Aug-2008 05:12
My father Jordan made those delicious doughnuts as he worked for the Maier family for over 30 years. I looked forward seeing, smelling and eating those great doughnuts since I was a little boy. I will never forget this wonderful establishment. God Bless you Freddie Maier and to my dear dad Jordan
Kay Lindenberg 26-Jul-2008 23:53
This photo brings back memories. When I attended Bennett High School (1947-51) I became friends with a classmate, Joanie Meier, Freddie's daughter. In 1950 I worked at the donut shop 3 or 4 days a week after school. They told me that I could eat all the donuts I wanted, but eventually I got so sick of the French cruellers that even today they have little appeal. I still remember carefully packing the soft, fresh donuts into boxes for the eager customers and the sweet smell in the air. And I finally found out how the jelly got into the donuts! So sad to know that another place in my Buffalo memory is gone.
Dave 14-Jul-2008 19:16
What is not widely known is the number of Freddie's Doughnuts stores that were in operation from the 50's well into the 70's. I don't know of any currently in operation, but at one time in the 70's there were, in addition to the Buffalo area, 4 in Flint MI; 4 in Lansing MI; 2 or more in Rochester; 1 or more in Albany, & 1 or more in Fort Erie, PA. That quality has not been reproduced since. Sorry, but the new Krispy Kreme doughnuts taste much too sweet & have a metallic, machine made flavor... Freddies Doughnut were popular because they used high quality ingredients & were made with old-school care. I sure miss 'em!
Guest 04-May-2008 18:57
Fred Maier was my paternal grandfather. My dad baked at Freddie's for 35 years and mom managed the books. Some of us grandkids worked at the bakery when we were young. The property has finally been sold to the moving company next door. The building is coming down in June '08. I was indeed offering the leftover picture boxes, way back in 2000. They sold like frycakes! Eleven years after we had closed, they were still infused with a heavenly bakery smell (and we still have thousands). The bakery was a major part of my life growing up in the 70s and 80s. I remember it being the coolest place anywhere for a kid to visit. I'd go up on the roof to see the neon sign, which was about 25-30' high. I used to climb on hundreds of flour sacks in the back and pretend to drive our Grumman delivery truck. My grandfather was very good friends with Vernon Rudolph, founder of Krispy Kreme. We bought a lot of their ingredients and they no doubt used some of my grandfather's ideas. They did business on a handshake. Fred frequently flew round-trip to Winston-Salem on Mr. Rudolph's private planes. My uncle, Fred Jr., was a recreational pilot by age 17. One of Rudolph's sons took him up in their Stinson reliant and let the younger Fred take the yoke for a while.

I'm a freelancer, so I'm doing a Freddie's piece for WNY Heritage Magazine that will publish in July - a belated obituary of sorts. There are many great pictures, memories and tidbits to share. But about the comment that a "house of ill-repute" may have operated at Freddie's: thanks for the chuckle! First time I've ever heard this, but there's no truth to it at all (sorry)! You might be thinking of the dreadful Mohawk Manor directly across the street. As the neighborhood fell into squalor (starting in the early 70s), prostitutes and dealers set up for business. It has since been turned into subsidized housing. Between the Mohawk and construction for Buffalo's "subway to nowhere" right in front of our building, visiting Freddie's lost some of its appeal.

Thank you for all your kind words and support through those years!

Jason Maier
jmaier (at symbol) roadrunner dot com
tammy 21-Oct-2007 01:12
I used to love Freddies Donut's as a kid. I remember going to Canisus college for summer camp and in the mornig go get a peaut stick donut everyday. I reall miss the best donut place in the world.
Bob 06-Sep-2007 11:25
Henry...Krispie Kreme only closed it's store on Niagara Falls Blvd. There is still one on Walden across from the Galleria and in almost all Wilson Farm stores
Henry 30-Aug-2007 20:44
I loved Freddie's. When I was a little kid in the 60's it was always a Sunday treat to have fresh Freddie's donuts and if I woke up early enough I could go with dad to pick them up. I walys used to fight for the peanut sticks, but now the ones I miss most are the good old plain glazed ones. When I was in high school, our class would make money by selling Freddie's donuts for 25 cents before school started. The closest to the glazed I have found are Krispy Kreme and I did hear that they based theirs on Freddie's recipe. I miss Freddie's a lot and now Krispy Kreme's no longer around here either.

Henry
BILL BALL 16-Jan-2007 00:10
I was a cilivian employee of the Police Garage and I could get a dozen donuts for half price same as police officers.I think Freddies sponsered the desk blotters as advertisement.
Janice Nelson,Georgia 05-Jun-2006 02:46
It was so sad to see this establishment close and no one else take over for years I had wished that would happen.I have yet to find another donut anything like a Freddie's. I think the closing was as bad as closing the steel plants,lol. I read an article where the owners son happen to go into the basememt of the building and found boxes that held the donut boxes, he was offering them for sale, you might be able to find them on e-bay.
John Kinnitt 15-Mar-2006 02:59
I used to live on Pleasant Place just a few blocks away from Freddie's it was always atreat when my mom (who worked at Children Hospital) or my dad (who worked at Bethelham Steel) would bring that red and white box in after work and I would grab the peanuts sticks or the chocolate glazed! It seemed like Buffalo was heaven back then, that there was no better place to be!
Phyllis 25-Feb-2006 16:59
I've lived in 3 cities other than Buffalo, through the years and I haven't found any doughnuts that have equaled Freddies... Actually, I haven't found any doughnuts that have equaled any that I've eaten in Buffalo. The peanut sticks were my favorite and Mom love the "nothing doughnuts"as she called the french crullers.. Tops make a peanut stick that is very close to the ones at Freddies... Everytime either I go back or a friend who has family back home comes back, peanut sticks from Tops on on my list.. We would go to Freddies for Sunday evening rides when we lived in the Fruit Belt and after moving to Corfu, everytime we visited any family in Buffalo, Freddies was a stop on the way home, even if it was miles out of the way... Another great place for doughnuts was the Seneca Bakery at Seneca and Babcock.. Great custard doughnuts and angel food cakes... yummy... but alas, it's long gone too.
Guest 07-Jan-2006 16:37
LOL!!
House of 'ill repute' or not, Freddie's had the best donuts in the world.
Here in the south, there's Krispy Kreme, but to me, KK doesn't come close to Freddie's!
clay Pasternack 17-Sep-2005 21:25
All through my youth and into college years in the late 1960's and early 1970's it was rumoured that there was some illegal activity going on at Freddie's. Supposedly there was a house of ill repute operating there. I worked at Main and Lafayette for many years, and the rumor was rampant there as well.
Guest 05-Sep-2005 03:53
When I was about 4 or 5 we had a friend of the family come & take my 4 brothers & me for a ride every Sunday to give my parents a break. I knew right where Freddies was & as we would get closer to it I would mention how I loved Freddies Doughnuts & he would stop in & buy us doughnuts. One Sunday my mom warned me not to say anything about Freddies Doughnuts & about a block from Freddies I said "my mom told me not to say anyyything about Freddies Doughnuts." Needless to say he pulled in & I got yelled at when we got home. But it was worth it.
Marilyn Jackson-Dayton OH 19-Aug-2005 00:12
All I have to say is peanuts sticks!!!!
Guest 15-Apr-2005 19:10
"always open"...the irony is so palpable...