At 10 years old, Thor Garcia wakes up at 6 a.m. every day to tend to his small business. He’ll start a batch of donuts — using his grandfather’s recipe — to fill the orders that come in over Instagram.
He makes just four flavors: chocolate-covered, frosted with sprinkles, sugar and cinnamon sugar. For the big orders, such as when he needed to make 140 donuts in one day, Thor recruits his sisters to help, but otherwise, he does everything himself.
His parents supervise, but Thor is the one running the operation: “I want the donuts to come out perfect,” he said.
It’s a sense of pride that Thor’s built up while saving for his future, one donut at a time. Last year, when he started selling the homemade treats, he planned to buy toys and video games with the profits, but Thor soon set his sights on something bigger: his first car.
The dream has grown into a full-blown enterprise. He calls it Thor’s Mighty Donuts.
The business started at Silverado Skate Park, where Thor practices rollerblading with his two younger sisters. At the park, they met Hilda Rojas, the owner of True Soul Coffee, a pop-up cafe that frequents local skate parks.
“She’s another entrepreneur like me,” Thor said.
Rojas let Thor sell his donuts at her coffee stand, helping him build up his confidence and overcome a shyness he said made it difficult at first to ask people if they wanted to buy a donut.
“The first time he did it, he looked miserable, because he’s just standing next to the coffee shop, and he’s just like, hands in pockets, and he didn’t say a word,” Thor’s dad Steve Garcia said.
But his family helped push him out of his comfort zone, and his business quickly started to grow. Eventually, more and more people started asking about his donuts, and now he sells them by the dozen for $25, including free delivery in Long Beach.
“It’s surprising how much it has taken off,” Steve said.
In the future, Thor hopes to open a donut and mechanic shop, where people can bring their cars in to get fixed and grab a donut while they wait.
Thor started getting interested in cars after seeing his dad work on his.
“I work on my car, my brother works on his car, and my dad taught me how to work on cars. So then that’s the next thing, and my mind has always been, my kids are going to have one car that they know from the ground up,” Steve said.
Thor’s dream car is a Nissan 350Z, though really, he said he’d be happy with any car from that series.
“I want expensive sports cars,” Thor said.
Thor said his main reason for wanting a car like that is to make his dad jealous, but he also likes them because “they’re cool.”
While saving up for his dream car, Thor will also make a point of giving back. Ten percent of the money he makes is given to charity. Recently, Thor has been donating to an orphanage in Mexico, a decision he made after connecting with some of the kids there during a trip with his family in September.
He has also used his money to buy food for a local food drive and to donate to his church.
“We just want to instill in them, regardless of where they’re going to be one day, to always want to give back to your community,” Steve said.
Thor knows it will be a long road to save up enough money for his dream car, but he’ll get there one donut at a time.
Orders can be placed via direct messaging on Instagram.