The legend of Prunella Shriek made it all the way from Ocean City, Maryland, to the Audubon Square shopping center in Lower Providence.

The tale of Prunella Shriek, a plucky 19th Century athlete who was in the habit of injuring herself — “Fractured Prunella,” her friends called her — playing against men in such sports as skiing and ice skating, is available for customers to enjoy at Fractured Prune Doughnuts, as they consider which of more than a dozen house-made, honey-based glazes and toppings will help create their individualized specialty doughnuts, writes Gary Puleo in The Times Herald.

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The legend of Prunella wasn’t the only thing that drew Steve and Kathie Kotch to invest in the francise, which was founded in 1976 by an owner who aimed to honor his hometown hero by naming the shop after her.

“It is a little quirky … I’m a little bit quirky,” said Steve Kotch, laughing. A former sporting goods salesman, Steve recalled being impressed by the huge loyal following the chain had developed, and how quickly the doughnuts were selling out at a Jersey shore location he visited a few times.

“We love to vacation in Sea Isle City, so one morning I made the run for hot doughnuts, came back, and they were gone in minutes. So I thought this might be a concept we wanted to check out,” he noted. “It started as a single store that began to franchise out, and now there are almost 30 locations.”

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