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BUSINESS
SCOTTSDALE PROGRESS | WWW.SCOTTSDALE.ORG | JUNE 27, 2021
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Cubicles gave way to donuts for this baker BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI Progress Staff Writer
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alley native Alex McEntire wanted something different. As she worked a corporate job in Seattle, she filled her free time making donuts. She played with recipes and experimented with flavors. McEntire, who grew up along the Glendale/Peoria border, was inspired by salty, savory and spicy donuts. “I found I was having more fun with donuts than sitting behind my desk,” McEntire said. Just before the pandemic, McEntire opened Chin Up Donuts at 7325 E. Frank Lloyd Wright, Scottsdale. “The whole mission is to provide joy and positivity,” she said. “I opened during the pandemic, when the world and the community needed a little more of it.” Chin Up Donuts is known for its Everything Bagel donut, which shares a salty,
Alex McEntire started Chin Up Donuts in Scottsdale after leaving a corporate job. (Pablo Robles/Progress Staff Photographer)
sweet combination. McEntire acknowledges it’s a little, well, questionable. “I have to persuade a lot of people to try it,” she said with a laugh. “It’s such a fun combination that your brain gets a little confused. We switch up donuts with other fun flavors.” Whoa Wasabi is a yeast-raised donut with a sweet and spicy wasabi glaze topped with a ginger-infused caramel drizzle. Sriracha-Cha, another yeastraised donut, has a sweet and spicy Sriracha glaze, and is coated in cinnamon sugar sprinkled with red pepper flakes. “Whatever I eat, I think about how I can turn it into a donut form,” McEntire said. “I just love pushing the boundaries of what’s found in a donut. I don’t think, inherently, they have to be sweet. The more eccentric flavors, the better. I was eating Mexican food and tried to figure out how I can turn it into a donut.”
see DONUT page 23
Ross Aviation expands airport footprint BY KRISTINE CANNON Progress Staff Writer
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he sky’s the limit for premiere fixed base operator Ross Aviation. Since returning to Scottsdale Municipal Airport in 2016, Ross Aviation has not only become a dominant presence but is also in the midst of expanding — in more ways than one. On June 1, Ross Aviation along with domestic general building contractor JE Dunn Construction broke ground on an expansive new hangar and office building complex at SDL. “Putting shovels in the ground ... is the start of providing even greater hangar capacity for our customers here in Scott-
Ross Aviation along with domestic general building contractor JE Dunn Construction broke ground on an expansive new hangar and office building complex at SDL. (Special to the Progress)
sdale,” said Ross CEO Brian Corbett. And one month prior, Ross Aviation expanded its fixed base operator network with the acquisition of the FBO and other businesses of Silverhawk Aviation in Lincoln, Nebraska. “This is an important addition for us, not only from a geographic perspective, but from an operational one as well,” Corbett said. As an FBO, Ross Aviation is what some might describe as a gas station for aircraft. But for Ross Aviation, it’s more than that. As part of their new, 56,000 square
see AVIATION page 23
