He admitted he needed help.
And he turned to God.
By the following morning, his struggling shop was overflowing with customers.
Ten Years of Work Suddenly Put at Risk
Tes owns The Local Donut in Scottsdale, Arizona, where making the day’s inventory begins while much of the city is still asleep.
His employees don’t simply arrive a few hours before opening.
They can start around midnight.
“Early is an understatement. We start at 11, 12 at night,” one worker said.
The crew prepares the shop’s donuts by hand, putting in hours of work before the first customers of the morning arrive.
Tes has kept that operation running for a decade.
But Arizona’s punishing summer season brought a financial challenge unlike anything he’d experienced before.
“We felt the pressure after spring training to get things ready for summer, and we just couldn’t catch up,” Tes told FOX 10 Phoenix. “A lot of small businesses deal with it – but this year was different.”
Business fell to frightening levels.
Eventually, Tes experienced what he described as his worst week since opening the shop.
Then came the problem no responsible business owner wants to face.
Payroll was approaching, and Tes wasn’t sure he could cover it.
That meant the crisis wasn’t just about him.
Employees who had spent years arriving in the middle of the night to help build his business were counting on those paychecks.
Tes had a decision to make.
He could suffer silently and hope something changed.
Or he could tell people what was happening.
Tes Asked His Community — and God — for Help
Tes chose the second option.
“I kind of had to humble myself and ask for help from the community, ask for help from God,” he said.
He took his struggle public and asked people to support the shop.
Then came the response.
By the next morning, customers were pouring into The Local Donut.
The struggling business suddenly had a crowd.
But the story didn’t end with people simply buying breakfast.
Other local business owners reportedly began paying ahead for customers who hadn’t even walked through the door yet.
One act of generosity led to another.
A business owner worried about making payroll suddenly found himself watching his neighbors rally around the shop he’d spent ten years building.
“There’s a lot of selfless people out there, a lot of generous people,” Tes said.
Regular customer Harris Dozier explained part of the shop’s appeal.
“They’ve got a lot of great options as well as super friendly people,” said Harris Dozier, a regular customer. “It’s a great time to come in here real quick for a donut.”
Scottsdale Showed What Community Still Means
Americans constantly hear that the country has become hopelessly divided.
We’re told neighbors don’t know neighbors anymore.
We’re told community is disappearing.
We’re told small businesses can’t compete and ordinary Americans are too consumed with their own problems to care about someone else’s.
Then something like this happens.
Tes didn’t wait for politicians to rescue his shop.
There was no new government program.
There was no committee meeting or taxpayer-funded bailout.
A small-business owner simply acknowledged that he was in trouble, asked his neighbors for help, put his faith in God — and people showed up.
That matters.
Small-business owners often carry enormous burdens privately.
They have employees to pay, suppliers expecting checks, rent coming due and families depending on them.
Admitting that the numbers aren’t working can feel like admitting defeat.
Tes did it anyway.
And Scottsdale responded.
A Business Worth Fighting For
For Tes, The Local Donut isn’t simply a way to earn a living.
He also loves the work itself.
“The people, the creativity,” Tes said. “Creating donuts and coming up with different flavors fulfills that creative spark.”
Now, after seeing customers and fellow entrepreneurs rally around him, Tes wants to return that generosity.
“People are there to help out,” he said, “and I definitely want to pay it forward as well.”
That’s perhaps the most important part of the story.
One person receives help when he desperately needs it.
Then he remembers it.
And when someone else eventually hits hard times, he gets the opportunity to become the person who shows up.
That’s how strong communities are built.
Not through slogans.
Not through government directives.
Through ordinary people deciding that their neighbor’s struggle matters.
Daniel Tes spent ten years waking up while most of Scottsdale was sleeping to build his business.
When that business reached one of its darkest moments, he swallowed his pride, asked his community for support and asked God for help.
The next morning, his shop was packed.
Call it faith.
Call it generosity.
Call it neighbors taking care of neighbors.
Tes now has another name for it: something he intends to pay forward.
