DIXIE STILL IN THE DOUGH

"Tote a Poke Home."

That statement is part of the Dixie Cream Donut Drive-In in Cape Girardeau, and many of the city's residents do just that.

"Our drive-up business makes up the major portion -- more than 95 percent -- of our business here," said Gene Wren, who has been cooking up doughnuts, rolls and longjohns for the past seven years. "A lot of people come by and buy a bag full. We do some wholesale, but not that much."

Wren is familiar with the doughnut shop located at 1617 Independence

"I'm a Cape Girardeau native," he said. "I used to stop by the doughnut shop when I was attending Cape Central High School. Later, when I moved to Bonne Terre, I would stop by when I returned to Cape."

The Dixie Cream franchise has been around more than 60 years -- it was founded in 1929 -- and has been in the Cape Girardeau area 40 years.

The local operation was established in 1953 by the late Truman Howard, who operated the shop until his retirement in 1982. Howard died in 1987.

Wren is only the third owner of the business in its 40 years of existence. Eddie Kistner, an employee of Howard's, operated it before Wren purchased it in 1986.

"I didn't know much about doughnuts when I got into the business," said Wren. "The only thing I knew about them is that they were round and you could eat them."

Dixie Cream Flour, headquartered in St. Louis, was a pioneer in the drive-up window service.

The Cape Girardeau doughnut operation may not have been the first drive-up facility, but it was one of the first, noted Wren.

People started flocking to the small facility the day it opened, and the traffic at 1617 Independence is still heavy at times.

The shop is open seven days a week, and opens around 3:30 a.m. when the first batch of glazed doughnuts comes out of the cooker.

"That means we go to work early -- between midnight and 1 a.m.," said Wren, who still lives at Bonne Terre. "We have six employees in the operation."

Wren's wife, the former Karen Sitze, also works in the business on weekends.

Everything is made from scratch each day.

"We use the special Dixie Cream Flour," he added. "It contains no additives, no preservatives; and we use 100 percent vegetable shortening."

The dough is mixed, kneaded and has to set for about an hour, noted Wren. It is then made into loaves, and cut into the various products to go into the cooker, which has been manned by Steve Volkerding for some 15 years.

"He's our head cooker," said Wren.

In addition to glazed doughnuts, the company turns out 28 varieties of sweets, which include longjohns -- with jelly, custard or cream fillings -- cinnamon rolls, cake doughnuts and many others.

In addition to the fried bread products, coffee, milk, hot chocolate and sodas are available at the drive-in window.

"Many former Cape Girardeans, like myself, grew up with the Dixie Cream Donut Drive-in," said Wren. "They block it in as a `must stop' any time they return to their home town."

The doughnuts and other products served at the business fall under what food experts call "fried breads," which are cooked quickly in hot fats.

Fried breads originated in warm, dry climates, where cooks could not tolerate the heat of oven baking.

The ring-shaped, cake-like doughnut - a fried cake with a hole in the middle -- is the most common of all fried breads.

Legend has it that a sea captain, Hanson Gregory, invented the doughnut hole in 1847. According to the legend, he cut holes in the dough before frying to make the cakes more digestible.

A plaque marks his birthplace in Camden Township (now Rockport), Maine.

Others in doughnut history say the Dutch settlers brought the fried cake into colonial America.

Either way, these fried breads are best eaten the day they are made, said Wren.

"We try to judge how many products we need each day, but that's an impossible task," said Wren. "We have tried to track sales at different times, but our counts never come out the same. Sometimes, we run out. Other times, we have leftovers, which we donate to some organization."

Wren also offers something special for customers who bring their dogs with them. Dogs accompanying their owners on a doughnut run receive a free dog biscuit.

"Some of our regular customers tell us their dogs get as excited as children when the car pulls up to the window," said Wren. "Some customers say their dog knows when the car is headed to the Donut Drive-In."

Prior to purchasing the business, Wren worked with Bluff City Beer, starting in Cape Girardeau and later transferring to Bonne Terre.