Creator Of Mister Donut’s Famed Pon De Ring Is A Finance Grad Who Sold Doughnuts For 7 Years

The iconic doughnut

In 2003, he created the Pon De Ring, which ended up being Mister Donut’s most famous and Instagrammable offering. A ring of chewy mochi-like balls joined together to form a garland and dipped in glaze, it was one of the top-selling items at Mister Donut’s Singapore pop-up last year.

Masaaki also flew to Singapore for the Jurong Point pop-up, where he personally churned out doughnuts non-stop to cater to the three-hour queues. “I lost 6kg after that,” he told 8days.sg with a laugh.

Mister Donut was founded in the US. But it really only took off in Japan in the ’70s, after Japanese cleaning supplies company Duskin brought the brand in. It is now headquartered in Osaka, where there is a Mister Donut College for new employees (which 8days.sg recently toured).

Finance grad selling doughnuts 

Worked on the shop floor for seven years

The challenge he faced as a new Mister Donut hire was also the uncertainty; there was no fixed timeframe where he could expect to be promoted to a desk at the air-conditioned HQ. “Some people worked at the shop for five years, seven years or even 15 years. It all depended on your ability and performance,” he recalled. “There were a lot of people who quit along the way because they didn’t want to continue working in a service job.”

Masaaki persevered for seven years before he was assigned to work in the company’s product development department. “But that was 30 years ago. Times are different now. [Working on the shop floor] is still a requirement, but you don’t have to work there for seven years,” he said.

During his time as a shop employee, he trained as a chef where he learnt how to make all the doughnuts on the menu. Around 2003, Duskin wanted to introduce exclusive doughnuts for the Japanese market. “For almost 40 years, Mister Donut has been selling original items from the US. Japan didn’t have any signature items, so we wanted a Japanese mainstay,” Masaaki recounted.

The ‘mother and father’ of the Pon De Ring

The company ran surveys with customers to find out what doughnuts they wanted. Some responses called for a doughnut with a chewy texture similar to Japan’s famous rice mochi. Masaaki brainstormed with a Japanese flour company and together, they came up with the Pon De Ring. “They are the ‘father’ of the Pon De Ring, and we are its mother,” he quipped to 8days.sg. “They came up with the flour mix and I translated it into a product. Without one or the other, there wouldn’t be this doughnut.”

As for why it was named the Pon De Ring, Masaaki revealed that the doughnut was inspired by the popular Brazilian pão de queijo (pronounced as “pon-deh-kay-jo”). It is a small ball-shaped cheese bread that is soft and chewy, but slightly crispy on the outside.

Instead of individual orbs, Mister Donut made it into a classic doughnut shape by joining the balls to form a garland. “Right on the first day of sales, it flew off the shelves. We ran out of ingredients!” Masaaki shared.