By Raiza Giorgi

When Loren Ollenburger thinks of his favorite memories, he recalls eating doughnuts after church services or at special family outings.

“I haven’t met a person yet who has had a bad memory where doughnuts are concerned,” Ollenburger said with a laugh.

He and his wife Sarah and family friends Craig and Tracy Minus are the proud new owners of God’s Country Provisions, previously known as Donut-Time in Buellton.

The two couples officially took ownership Dec. 1 from Greg and Cecilia Fariss. Then they spent a month training with Greg Fariss and renovating the shop. They will reopen mid-January.

The new owners of God’s Country Provisions, formerly Donut-Time, spent a month training with previous owner Greg Fariss to keep the taste the same for loyal customers.

“The community has been amazing since finding out we were taking over, and we are really excited to start this new chapter with our great friends. Craig was literally the first person I met here, and it’s a great friendship,” Ollenburger said.

The Ollenburgers moved from Orange County into their house in the Santa Ynez Valley two years ago but couldn’t unpack anything immediately because they were expected to attend Opening Day of the baseball season.

“Loren told me they had just moved, but I didn’t realize it was literal until later,” Minus laughed.

As the two couples got to know one another they decided they wanted to start a business but didn’t know what kind until they saw the doughnut shop was for sale.

“We know how special this place is and want to continue that as we start the God’s Country Provision brand. This step is just the beginning,” Minus said.

Minus works as a real estate developer in Santa Barbara and his wife does design. Combined with Ollenburger’s wife’s skills in social media and marketing, they decided to take the leap and start.

The question they have been asked multiple times is, will they keep the recipe the same?

Ollenburger left a corporate career to start this new venture and will be creating the doughnuts according to Fariss’ recipes.

“I think I trained him right. They are all great people and we are happy to leave the business in their hands,” Fariss said.

He and his wife will be joining their daughter in Montana, and they aren’t exactly sure where the future will take them.

“All I know is I have a grandbaby coming in March and I plan to be there for every moment,” Fariss said as they were getting ready to leave after Christmas.

The new owners hope the community will like the shop’s new ambiance.

“We want to have more regular hours and stay open later into the morning. We might have some ‘doughnut of the month’ specials and a few more options, but the recipe is the same,” Ollenburger said.

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