April 12, 2017

Blends Donut Cafe Holds Grand Opening at Schilling Farms

Blends Donut Cafe Ribbon Cutting Photo

The Collierville Herald

April 12, 2017

Blends Donut Café, a 1,200-square-foot specialty coffee and donut shop, opened last month at Schilling Farms.  It is located at the northeast corner of Schilling Boulevard and Winchester on the first floor of Boyle’s upscale multi-family community, The Carrington at Schilling Farms. Blends brings the Collierville community its first experience with the new culinary trend of small cake-style donuts creatively topped and decorated to replicate popular desserts and flavor combinations. The café pairs the donuts with a variety of locally roasted coffee and espresso blends that are served hot and chilled over ice.  Other breakfast options include four bagel flavors with six different toppings to choose from, as well as all natural organic oatmeal with a variety of toppings.  Examples of donut flavors include Strawberry Cheesecake, White Chocolate Raspberry and Cinnamon Roll.

Blends offers a refreshing guest experience with indoor and outdoor seating in a unique space that borrows design cues from west coast coffee houses. In addition to its storefront at The Carrington apartment community, the café provides catering and event services.

“We are thrilled to welcome Blends Donut Café and owner Amanda Ulczynski to our Schilling Farms community,” says Les Binkley, Vice President of Boyle.  “The grand opening of this corner retail establishment has been highly anticipated by the residents of The Carrington and other surrounding neighborhoods at Schilling Farms, as well as by the employees at the nearby Helena Chemical Company headquarters building and the new 50,000-square-foot mixed-use building occupied by Helena’s Southern Business Unit. This is a much needed amenity for both Schilling Farms office workers and residents, and we think the concept will enhance the quality of life and the walkability that Schilling Farms was designed to encourage.”

The master-planned 443-acre Schilling Farms community was started by Boyle in 1998 and incorporates all of the elements of small-town life, including office buildings, a variety of residential neighborhoods, retail, restaurants, doctors’ offices, a daycare center, YMCA, banks, D1 Sports, and a church.

“When we were reviewing various options in Collierville for the location of Blends, there was just something about the quaintness of Schilling Farms and The Carrington apartments. We love the look and feel of the brick buildings and the outdoor patio, and we thought it matched the look and feel we were aiming to create with Blends,” said Ulczynski. “The styling for the interior of Blends
was inspired by a shop my husband and I found in Newport Beach, California. We love the fact that there are so many residential neighborhoods at Schilling Farms ranging from apartments to town homes to single family and the fact that the community is so walkable. We envision the workers at the various office buildings and the neighbors walking over to Blends during their breaks and before work.”

The hours of operation are from 7 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 8 a.m.-2p.m. Sundays. The café has hired 11 employees and is still hiring additional part-time workers.