A look inside The Little Donut Shop, located at 1716 N. High St.
Credit: Matthew Lovett / Lantern photographer
A donut shop located right under a bar sounds like a no brainer, right?
Located at 1716 N. High St. underneath The Big Bar & Grill, The Little Donut Shop is the latest opening for the group that owns Big Bar, The Little Bar and The Little Barbershop.
“We thought it would work down here on High Street. There are other places you can get donuts, but nothing quite like this. It’s a little bit more interesting, a little more fun. It’s something you don’t see all the time, and we thought there was a niche for it,” said Todd Ciardelli, one of the group’s managers.
The Little Donut Shop opened Sept. 21, debuting about 15 flavor concoctions including maple bacon, strawberry shortcake and a classic vanilla.
Mark LaHue, a third-year in finance and manager of the shop, says the Little Donut Shop is different from some of its competitors.
“We have everything fresh, we don’t make a ton for the whole day. We have them ready. Every hour and a half we’re making more,” LaHue said.
Since its debut, LaHue said the shop has had some struggles with its location, but overall has done well and has received a positive response from customers so far.
“I think a lot of people don’t know we’re here. Some people are confused. They think we took over Big Bar but it’s really been picking up and we’ve had a good, steady stream of people,” LaHue said.
Laura Roccaforte, a fourth-year in speech and hearing science, said she thinks the Little Donut Shop will be successful.
“It’s a fantastic idea, I think it’ll get a lot of business, especially being right next to the bar,” Roccaforte said.
Pete Darouxis, manager of Buckeye Donuts, located at 1998 N. High St., said he thinks the Little Donut Shop is not “gonna last more than a month.”
“I think for the first few weeks, there’s gonna be a lot of people over there out of curiosity, but then I think all of our regular customers will start coming back and (the Little Donut Shop) won’t last,” Darouxis said.
The Little Donut Shop is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. but the group plans to extend those hours in the near future.
“We have plans to expand to late night hours, especially on Fridays and Saturdays. It’s not set in stone yet, but that will be coming soon,” Ciardelli said.
The donuts are $1 each, a half dozen is $5 and a dozen is $8.
As far as flavors go, Ciardelli says nothing is off limits.
“Right now, we’re sticking to these (flavors) until we’re a little bit more established, but the sky’s the limit with creativity and what we can put onto a donut.”
