I would suggest anyone wanting to sell mini donuts should call around before investing money in a mini donut machine. The event is going to be for a date in the future so if you do line up something you'll have time to get a machine.
Another thing to think about before buying a Lil Orbits mini donut machine: Is there a 20 amp outlet available? Lil Orbits mini donut machines have 20 amp plugs that can't be plug into a regular outlet. The outlet will need to accept a prong that's perpendicular to the other prong.
My husband is an electrician. He installed a 20 amp outlet for me. Now I can run my donut machine and get some experience before selling to the public.
I got a bag of Lil Orbits donut mix and I don't like it at all. It's easy to mix and is very smooth but the overwhelming smell of imitation vanilla is nauseating. Maybe that's a little harsh but it's just my opinion and that's what I thought when I first opened the bag.
We mixed up a batch of Lil Orbits donut mix and put them though the machine. It makes nice looking donuts but I didn't like them. My husband thought they were good but not fabulous. He said that anyone that likes McDonald's would probably like them. That's not meant as a slag, so don't take it that way.
I'm not interested in making a passable donut. I want to make a delicious donut. I want people that buy my donuts to love them and be glad they bought them.
Luckily for me my kids are wonderful cooks. My daughter took a mini donut recipe I found online and adjusted it until we had a donut that was delicious plain. It's delicious warm and covered with cinnamon and sugar and it's still delicious after it's cooled. Not so with the Lil Orbits donuts from the mix (eat'em hot or throw them out).
There's a few other things I didn't like about doing business with Lil Orbits. The first thing that put me off was the kindergarten style certificate they sent me. It had my name on it and announced I was a member of the Lil Orbits family or something similar. Apparently family members still pay full retail price and get no other benefits, because now that I'm a member of the Lil Orbits family I still don't get any discounts that I would expect family members to get.
I don't like the Donut Dollars program. If I agree Lil Orbits will give my name and phone number to potential buyers that want to talk to someone that is already in business. I get 25 donut dollars if and when I talk to someone. These "dollars" are good toward buying stuff from Lil Orbits. So they get you to sell there product and you get "rewarded" into buying more of their products. You can get $250 donut dollars if you get someone to buy a donut machine. It can't be the person you just talked to on the phone it has to be someone that you send to Lil Orbits. And you can still can only redeem them by buying Lil Orbits products.
The instructional DVD doesn't explain how to install the plunger into the hopper. And it's very unprofessionally done.
Lil Orbits isn't a franchise (which would advertise and offer other services to help the business owner succeed ) but they want you to use the Lil Orbits name when you sell donuts which further promotes Lil Orbits and not your business. Why would anyone that is using a Lil Orbits mini donut machine to sell to the public want someone in the area to buy a Lil Orbits machine? The market is already getting saturated and who wants competition? Do you think sellers on Ebay tell everyone where they get the products they sell? NO!
Every company needs to make a profit but Lil Orbits strikes me as miserly and underhanded. Belshaw doesn't do any of the stuff Lil Orbits does.
If I do succeed in the mini donut business I'll buy a Belshaw when I need to replace my machine.
Wish me luck in find a place to sell!
PS search the web for negative postings about Lil Orbits. I found it odd that no one has anything bad to say about them.
