LaMar's Donuts and Coffee — Restaurant in Overland Park

I went to the Overland Park location on Sunday, December 15 around 8:00 a.m. to buy a couple of dozen donuts. There were several customers ahead of and behind me. There were two employees in the store (male and female). I observed the following while standing in line:

Both of them were filling customer's orders and then running the cash register for the respective customer they waited on.

The male employee wore no gloves when handling the cash/cards or filling the orders, but he at least used a tissue wrapper to handle the donuts although he placed his hands in the bags and boxes that held the donuts in order to open the bags/boxes up as they are stored flat. So, his filthy hands contaminated the inside of the donut bags and boxes and he also placed the tissue wrapper inside the bag or box.

The female employee wore gloves. However, it was the same pair of clear gloves when cashing people out after filling their orders. Even worse, she did NOT use a tissue wrapper and just picked up the donuts with the same gloves and placed them in bags or boxes. She would take the payment from the customer and then serve the next customer. She never changed her gloves during the entire time I observed her. It was disgusting considering she was handling paper money, coins and credit/debit cards and then filling the orders by picking up the donuts from the trays with the same gloves and placing them into the bags/boxes. Other customers noticed it too.

Why isn't one employee handling the transactions and another employee just filling the orders? If that isn't possible, then the employees should put on a new pair of gloves after handling the transaction which is standard practice at places like Subway.

This practice is unsanitary, unprofessional, unappetizing, and unacceptable. I was going to mention it to these two employees, but it was crowded and I just walked out and went to Dunkin' because they were busy and I was pressed for time and disgusted over the incident.

I've been coming to LaMar's donut shops around Kansas City for decades and have never seen this happen before so I'm hoping it was not standard practice at this location.

I don't know if either one of the employees was a manager or team leader (I hope not), but this begs the question: Have these employees ever been properly trained on proper food handling per Health Department regulations?

I will give them another chance because LaMar's has good donuts, but this lack of proper food safety hygiene is potentially dangerous to customers.

The following day, I contacted the corporate office to report this activity and the person at corporate that I spoke with, Josh, was professional and very receptive to the complaint and thanked me for bringing the problem to his attention and stated it was "completely unacceptable" and that since this location was a corporate store he would make sure the problem was "remedied."

I like LaMar's and will give this location another chance hoping the situation was remedied as promised by the corporate office. If it happens again, though, I will report it to the Health Department.

UPDATE: On January 5, 2025, around 10:00 a.m., my wife and I visited this same LaMars location.

There were three employees present (two females and one male). All three were wearing gloves. All three filled customer's orders and conducted the respective customer's transaction.

One female employee named, Charity, who waited on us, put on a new pair of gloves following the transaction and before waiting on the next customer. Perfect!

The other two employees never changed their gloves and continued filling new customers' orders after handling the cash and debit cards of the previous customers. They should be following Charity's example, but oddly they were not.

Unfortunately, the problem has not been remedied by the...

I was in this store on October 14th and bought a few donuts and a chocolate milk. The donuts were middle of the road, however it was the chocolate milk that stands out most. I had ordered a chocolate milk, but when the manager Robin reached to get one from the cooler, there were none. She said she would need to run to the back which she did, and returned with 2, 1 for me and 1 for the next potential victim. So she rang me up and I went on my way. I got home and opened the chocolate milk, began consuming about halfway and realized something was wrong. The consistency was heavy, and the taste was unlike anything I had tasted before. I then looked at the expiration date which read 10/08/2017, 6 days past the expiration date. I picked up the phone and called the store to speak with Robin and tell her what happened. Her response was "well I thought we had pulled all of the bad stuff and got rid of it earlier, I'm not sure how that happened. But you can usually go 4-5 days past the expiration date and be fine." To that remark I replied, "If you truly believe that, I would love for you to demonstrate that idea and get to drinking one." She replied- "No I believe you, come up tomorrow and we'll get this fixed. " I really have no cravings for chocolate milk after this incident and just want my money back since in making sure to make a sale they are willing to sell milk that supposedly was pulled from the shelf. That night I went in to my second job, only to be sidelined with stomach problems, thanks so much Lamars! I returned on Sunday 10/15/2017 with the half full bottle of chocolate milk to get my refund. Upon arriving Robin offers me another milk, which I declined of course, ridiculous offer given the circumstances, why would I want another? She then proceeds to tell me that she is the assistant manager and only the store manager "Ronnie" would be able to help me, then threw out the half full chocolate milk. She takes my info and assures me that "Ronnie" will definitely call me on Monday 10/16/2017 to make it right and correct the situation. No call from "Ronnie" all week. I called the store again today and "Alex" puts me on hold first and foremost for 5 minutes only to tell me there is no manager available. No Ronnie. No Robin. He takes my name and number, and says Robin will call me. Robin calls, says she can't explain why Ronnie wouldn't call me. It's a classic example of a runaround and hoping that you'll forget and it will just go away. Still no word ftom Ronnie, unsurprisingly. I won't be going back to Lamars again, they have lost a customer. If you want real quality product, service, and vastly superior donuts, go down 435 a short distance to a place called "Fluffy Fresh Donuts" located on State Line Road next to Me. Goodcents & Popeyes Chicken, they'll take...

I placed an order on Thursday evening for Friday morning pick up in the hopes even getting there at 7am they would still have my preferences. I did this via Lamar’s website for 6:55-7:05 am. I show up at 7am to receive a text stating pick up time is pushed to 7:10-7:15 (no biggie). I walk in anyways and tell the employee I’m here to pick up and my name. She gives me a funny look, and asks me what my order was (1st red flag). I tell her, as she starts shoving my order into a bag instead of a box (2nd red flag). They were out of one of my choices I ordered (not a big deal, but, 3rd red flag). After filling up the bag with donuts, she goes into the back and comes back and asks me you ordered online? I said yes, and showed her the email confirmation. She says well we didn’t get an order it didn’t go to this store. I showed her the email again that shows the pick up location as 8615 College Blvd. She gives me a look as if i am lying and begrudgingly gave me the stuffed bag of donuts. I was really annoyed that I was being treated this way and left. Before I got down College I had to turn around and go back to Lamar’s to get a box. Usually you get a bag for 1-3 donuts. I had 3 cake donuts, a 2 tone knot, and 2 of their large glazed donuts….they should have been put in a box from the get go but, I feel the employee was annoyed and felt I was lying so they were just trying to shove my order into something and get me out of the door. I’ve never had a bad experience with Lamar’s before but, now I feel like I and my business are not appreciated.

ETA- Just wanted to add. I still selected to recommend Lamar’s because the product is always great, even today, the donuts are awesome. I usually have a really pleasant experience. I think this a one off. And perhaps something is wrong with the online ordering system that the office should be aware of. And that ultimately lead to a misunderstanding. But, i still felt really awkward today by my experience. Hopefully whatever is wrong is fixed for a more pleasant experience for others...