Matthew Atton tells me he’s heard of a customer eating four Bamm’s Snack Shack’s doughnuts in a single sitting, and all I can think is: “Who is this glutton?” Read MoreServed just three days a week, the colourful creations appear to be the biggest doughnuts in town.
Served just three days a week, the colourful creations appear to be the biggest doughnuts in town.
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Matthew Atton tells me he’s heard of a customer eating four Bamm’s Snack Shack’s doughnuts in a single sitting, and all I can think is: “Who is this glutton?”
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After all, the doughnuts at Atton’s Lowertown eatery — served just three days a week, Thursday through Saturday — appear to be the most massive doughnuts in town.
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“We want them to be bigger than everyone else’s,” Atton says.
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My more important question: “Are they better than everyone else’s?”
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I try Atton’s one-of-a-kind popcorn doughnut, which really does lucidly evoke buttery popcorn at its best with its popcorn-infused frosting. I follow that with an unapologetically decadent, superbly textured crueller and a spectacular apple fritter that’s incredibly apple-forward. After wondering if I have room for Atton’s toasted coconut doughnut, I realize: “I am that glutton.”
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With Atton’s doughnuts, it’s not simply size that matters, but also their freshness, lightness, clear, not-too-sweet flavours and novelty. That even goes for Atton’s jalapeno popper doughnut, which admittedly is pretty out there and leaves some lingering heat in one’s mouth.
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Doughnuts aren’t even the main attraction at the Snack Shack. It’s a side hustle for an eatery that sells burgers, cheeseburger egg rolls, mac and cheese, fish and chips, poutine and more.
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Ashley Atton, Matthew’s partner in business and life, calls the doughnuts “a product of passion and creativity.”
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“People ask for them on other days, but we can’t do it,” Matthew says.
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On Thursdays through Saturdays, Atton gets to work at 4 a.m. to pump out as many as 180 doughnuts. He cautions that doughnut-seekers ought to arrive before noon, when a wave of high-schoolers arrives.
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But if doughnuts are a bonus at Bamm’s, they’re nonetheless the result of Atton working in “mad scientist” mode, putting in “five straight years of making them all the time at home.”
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The Attons opened the Snack Shack in 2023, after moving into Lowertown with their children five years earlier. They see their business as a hub for the community, and the backroom has a TV and video game consoles for their children and friends to hang out after school.
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It was Ashley who wanted to open the restaurant when the opportunity arose. “She wanted to create something that formed a strong bond in our community,” Matthew says.