Eric Bretschneider, general manager at Buckeye Donuts, prepares a sandwich in the Buckeye Donuts kitchen. Credit: Nick DeSantis | Former Asst. Arts & Life Editor
Eric Bretschneider, longtime general manager of popular campus restaurant Buckeye Donuts, passed away after a “short, difficult, and intense battle with cancer,” according to an Instagram post posted in honor of Bretschneider by Buckeye Donuts Dec. 6.
Bretschneider, 44, had been with Buckeye Donuts — located at 1998 N. High St. — since 2003, starting off there working the night shift while studying computer science at Ohio State, the Instagram post said. He became general manager seven years later in 2010.
Jimmy Barouxis, owner of the 1998 N. High. St. location, went on ABC 6’s Good Day Columbus Dec. 6 to share some of his memories of Bretschneider. In the interview, Barouxis said it was the Ohio State community that led Bretschneider to stay at Buckeye Donuts for over 20 years.
“He could have done anything,” Barouxis said. “He was a brilliant guy, but something connected him to the donut shop. It was the people that he met there. It was the customers that he served there on a daily basis. It was the employees that he worked with. He just fell in love with the community as a whole and became part of the fabric of the Buckeye Donuts and the campus community.”
Kate Belliveau, an Ohio State alumna who graduated in 2022 with a degree in industrial design, worked at Buckeye Donuts with Bretschneider as her manager for three years. She said what stood out about Bretschneider was his devotion to his job.
“Every time that I worked under him, I always felt like he cared,” Belliveau said. “He cared about the business. He cared about the people. He cared about the customers. I can assume that he was a fantastic friend and I just appreciate his generosity.”
Graduating from Ohio State in 2005 with a computer science degree, Barouxis said Bretschneider had passions for computers and engineering, and was an active member of Columbus’ gaming community.
“He had a passion for computers and taking them apart and putting them back together; he loved engineering projects,” Barouxis said. “He had a passion for gaming. He absolutely loved gaming and loved Dungeons and Dragons. He was well-known in the Columbus gaming community for that. He was considered, I guess what’s called, a Dungeon Master, which is a big deal in that community.”
Belliveau said she recalls a time when she was working with Bretschneider that embodied who he was as a person.
“There was one shift specifically that I worked,” Belliveau said. “It was almost 24 hours, so I picked up someone’s shift before mine, and then the next guy after my shift didn’t show up. [Bretschneider] was like, ‘You need to take a nap. You need to sleep. If you don’t want to go home, just take a nap in the office chair.’ I was like, ‘Are you sure? You don’t need my help?’ He was always making sure that the workers were taken care of, even in the chaos.”
Buckeye Donuts’ Instagram post honoring Bretschneider received much support, with the post receiving over 7,400 likes, as well as 223 positive comments as of Thursday.
“Absolutely devastated,” one user commented. “[Bretschneider] was a legend and we love him so much. Nothing but the fondest of memories working with him in college and learning so much about the real world. Buckeye Donuts means the world to so many and [Bretschneider] has been a huge part of that for us.”
Barouxis said after working together for 22 years, Bretschneider’s generosity and willingness to help people is what he remembers him by the most.
“We were together, side by side, in the trenches across many rivers together, but I just remember the one thing for sure; his kindness and his gentleness, and he was a very giving person,” Barouxis said.
