From pregnancy cravings to becoming a local favourite: Meet the Emirati couple behind 'Gonuts'

Dubai: Some couples have date nights. Mira Bin Thani and Aref AlMazrouei have recipe testing sessions.

One day, they might be debating whether a doughnut flavour deserves to live another week. Another, they are experimenting with homemade cola using a blend of spices. And somewhere along the way, they managed to turn a pregnancy craving into one of Dubai’s growing homegrown food stories.

The Emirati husband-and-wife duo are the founders behind Gonuts Bakery and the newer Wilder Smash Burgers.

For Mira and Aref, both businesses have come from the same place: curiosity, stubbornness and a refusal to give up when things don’t immediately work. And, occasionally, a craving.

It started with a pregnancy and a doughnut from LA

Gonuts was born during the Covid-19 pandemic, when Mira was pregnant with the couple’s first child, Khalifa.

During their honeymoon in Los Angeles, the pair had tried doughnuts that stayed with them. Years later, Mira found herself craving something similar.

Aref got to work. “We wanted something that we could have fun with,” Mira says. “Something light, something fun. Something that our kids can enjoy and have with us.”

The couple worked with a chef to develop the concept, eventually creating a brand that was never meant to take itself too seriously. “It was like an early retirement plan,” Mira jokes.

That sense of fun became part of everything Gonuts did, from the flavor to the artwork. While scrolling through TikTok one day, Aref came across the work of New York mural artist Max Kolo, who was still relatively unknown at the time.

“I just sent him a message,” Aref recalls. “I said, ‘Hey, would you mind working on a brand in Dubai?’”

He replied almost immediately. Kolo went on to create the artwork, illustrations and visual identity behind Gonuts, bringing the colourful, graffiti-inspired personality that the founders were looking for.

“We’re very happy with Max’s touch,” Mira says.

Their first doughnuts didn’t exactly fly

The road to becoming a successful food brand was not as sweet as the finished product. When Gonuts first launched, the couple focused on baked doughnuts, including gluten-free and protein options.

The problem? People weren’t particularly interested. “That did not do particularly well,” Aref admits.

So, they pivoted.

Earlier this year, Gonuts shifted its focus towards crullers, a choux pastry that is fried, crispy on the outside and soft inside before being piped or glazed with different flavours. The response was immediate. “People just fell in love with them instantly,” Aref says.

That willingness to abandon what wasn’t working has become one of the couple’s biggest lessons in business.

For Mira, one of the toughest parts has been knowing when to let go. “You have to let go of things that don’t work very quickly and try to find what people actually want,” she says.

That includes one particularly painful goodbye. Mira had fallen in love with Earl Grey tea doughnuts after trying one in Los Angeles and was convinced Dubai would love the idea.

Dubai disagreed. “We created it, and no one liked it except me,” she says, laughing.

Sometimes, customers know best

Not every flavour has to be a founder’s favourite to survive. One flavour was about to be removed from the menu when a customer convinced Aref to reconsider.

“She explained why this needs to stay on the menu,” he says. The flavour stayed. It went on to become one of their bestsellers: pecan pie.

The couple’s approach to food has always involved experimentation, and accepting that some ideas will fail spectacularly.

They have tried everything from savoury doughnuts to one particularly unusual combination featuring Spanish chorizo, cream cheese and maple syrup. “It was really strange,” Mira says. But people who tried it actually liked it.

The menu has also evolved from character-inspired flavours into something more nostalgic. The goal, they say, is to create food that triggers a memory.

One of their earliest flavours, a strawberry milk creation, repeatedly produced the same reaction. “Almost every person said, ‘This reminded me of my childhood somehow,’” Mira says.

That’s exactly the feeling they are chasing.

Then came Wilder and suddenly, they were selling out

If Gonuts was their business school, Wilder Smash Burgers was their graduation project.

The couple launched the burger concept earlier this year, armed with everything they had learned from the difficult early days of Gonuts.

And this time, things moved much faster.

“We started Gonuts about three years ago, and Wilder Smash Burgers was brought in early this year,” Aref says.

Mira interrupts with an important clarification. “I eat Wilder every day, don’t look at me like that!”

The launch itself was almost accidental. The founders took their kiosk outside their house around New Year’s, close to the beach. At first, people assumed it was simply part of the celebrations.

The couple hadn’t even fully realised they were about to launch something. Then the customers started coming. Every evening brought more people. They met neighbours. Made friends.

And soon, weekends meant something they hadn’t experienced in the same way during Gonuts’ difficult early years.

They were selling out. “For months and years, you’re struggling to keep the business alive,” Aref says. “Trying to reinvent the business and yourself because you really believe in it.”

Then suddenly, people are lining up. “It’s one of the best moments of our lives.”

The founders were taking orders and waiting tables

For Mira, one of the biggest changes was that customers could finally see the people behind the brands. Before opening physical spaces, Gonuts customers simply received a box.

They didn’t necessarily know who had made the food or who was behind the name. Then Mira and Aref started showing up.

Literally.

“I was waiting tables, he was taking orders,” Mira says. Customers began recognising them and connecting with them.

“When you see the owners of the business, you feel the passion,” she says. That personal connection has become a major part of how they want to grow.

The couple remain deeply involved in everything sometimes perhaps too involved. “I love to touch everything,” Mira says. As the creative force behind both brands, she admits that constantly coming up with campaigns and ideas can be exhausting.

Aref, meanwhile, describes running an F&B business as one of the biggest learning experiences of his life.

“It’s taught me more than what I learned in school,” he says.

No shortcuts, except maybe the sprinkles

One thing the couple are particularly proud of is how much they make themselves. Doughs, glazes, fillings, sauces and components are developed in-house and produced in small batches.

“Everything we do in the kitchen, every single item is made from scratch,” Mira says.

“No preservatives. No colourings.” Then she pauses. “One exception: the sprinkles.” Fair enough.

The same philosophy extends to Wilder.

Aref proudly explains that the beef and sauces are made in-house, while the founders have even spent time developing their own homemade cola.

The drink uses a natural cola base, an interesting blend of spices and brown sugar, with the syrup mixed with soda when customers order.

For the pair, experimenting with food remains one of the best parts of the job. “R&D and testing out new things is the best part of running a business,” Aref says.

From their home kitchen to taking Dubai to the world

The couple’s journey began at home. They have also deliberately chosen to grow organically. The entire project, Aref says, has been self-funded.

“We really wanted to make sure that we grow organically,” he says. “When people wanted us to grow by just coming back and enjoying our food.”

That is something both founders are proud of and while the journey has involved plenty of failed flavours, difficult months and moments when giving up might have seemed easier, Mira says quitting was never really an option.

The couple are both competitive, both stubborn and both convinced that eventually, things would turn around. “We don’t give up,” she says.

For them, Dubai has also played a huge role in making that possible. The city, they say, has given them opportunities, support and a place where small businesses can find ways to grow.

And now, their ambitions are getting bigger. “The mentality of Dubai is to Dubai-it” Aref says. “To take something from Dubai and take it to the world.”

That, ultimately, is the plan.

To take the crullers, the smash burgers, the strange flavours, the homemade cola and the story of a husband and wife who refused to quit.

Because sometimes, apparently, all it takes to start a business is a pregnancy craving and maybe an Earl Grey doughnut that absolutely nobody wanted.