Rick Scott talks doughnuts in 2012 State of the State address

Like many Americans, Florida Gov. Rick Scott finds it hard to pass over a good doughnut.

Or a doughnut story.

Scott started his career running a pair of doughnut shops in Kansas City in the 1970s. He returned to his doughnut roots in 2011, spending a day working at Nicola’s Donuts in Tampa.

In a black hat that he clearly didn’t like wearing and a matching black shirt, Gov. Scott baked and then sold fried pastries by the dozen to customers. You can read all about his day, the first of Scott’s "Let’s Get to Work Days", here.

Or you can just listen to Scott tell the story himself -- which he did during his second State of the State address on Jan. 10, 2012. With owner Rachel Waatti listening on from the House chambers, Scott went on about doughnuts.

He joked about how you don’t have to worry about employees eating too many doughnuts (they’re just too rich) and how Waatti complained that Scott was spending too much time with the media and not enough time working.

He then touted the accomplishments of his day back in the doughnut business.

"We sold out; more than 240 dozen by 8:30 a.m.," he said.

Your humble fact-checker happened to be tailing Scott that day and can report, the doughnut man-turned-governor is creating a bit of doughnut lore.

The doors to Nicola’s opened at 6 a.m. and doughnuts were being snatched off the shelves (Your fact-checker knows, because he purchased a dozen himself to share with his hungry colleagues.)

By 8:30 a.m., the store had already run out of doughnuts and had to grab another 15-or-so dozen doughnuts from Nicola’s second location.

How many doughnuts were sold by the time Scott left?

Waatti and workers told PolitiFact Florida the number was definitely above the 65 dozen they originally baked for the shop and was probably around 80 dozen. That’s probably at least 240,000 calories of breakfast, but it’s not the "more than 240 dozen" Scott bragged to legislators about.

Shortly after Scott’s speech, Waatti spoke to David DeCamp of the Tampa Bay Times. She said the 240-dozen figure includes all of the doughnuts sold at both Nicola’s locations throughout the entire day Scott worked at the bakery. But she also reconfirmed that the shop Scott worked at sold about 80 dozen while he was there.

At PolitiFact Florida, we’re almost as serious about our doughnuts as we are our fact-checks. We rate Scott’s "240 dozen" claim Mostly False.

Now can somebody pass a maple glazed?

Featured Fact-check

Social Media

stated on December 6, 2024 in social media posts

UnitedHealthcare posted a job opening for a CEO 24 hours after its CEO was killed.