Why are so many doughnut shops opening in Charlotte? Here are some reasons behind the boom
READ MORE
National Doughnut Day
2023’s (first) National Doughnut Day is June 2. In Charlotte, we will celebrate with doughnut deals, doughnut guides and doughnut winners. For the record, when doughnut shops are booming, the real winners are us — the customers!
Expand All
Doughnuts are hard to resist — and business owners are taking notice. The Charlotte area has been exploding with doughnut shops churning out glazed, dipped and filled varieties for us to enjoy. In fact, we’d say it’s a booming industry here.
Keep in mind that Duck Donuts, which touts itself as the “fastest-growing doughnut shop” in the country with 100+ locations, started right here in North Carolina (in Duck, of course.). There are three locations just in this area — in Charlotte, Huntersville and Fort Mill — and many others spread throughout the Carolinas.
AROUND CHARLOTTE, we’ve seen several other doughnut shops — and at least one doughnut food truck — open or expand to new locations over the past five years, including notables such as:
- B.A.D., which is opening at Camp North End in late summer or early fall.
- Donut I Love You food truck opened in September 2019, and its gluten-free treats and quickly became popular.
- Mochinut is opening in Pineville.
- OMG Donuts & Coffee opened in Concord in August 2017, then expanded to Charlotte’s MoRA neighborhood in 2021.
- Pepperbox Donuts, which opened in South End in 2019 with a vegan menu and added a NoDa location in 2021.
- Reigning Doughnuts opened in 2017 in NoDa.
The Salty Donut will open in South End with craft doughnuts and coffee.
- Yummm Donut opened in Gastonia in December 2021.
“From the moment I started making doughnuts, I knew it was what I wanted. Every doughnut was a blank canvas for me to create on,” Jasmin Macon of B.A.D. recently told CharlotteFive. “And while I enjoyed learning the industry while working in small businesses, I ultimately knew I wanted to one day have my own shop.”
WHY DOUGHNUTS: Younger people — and Charlotte is full of them — like to socialize over coffee and a treat, according to research from Technavio released by PR Newswire. And that may be a factor in what’s fueling the growth of doughnut shops nationwide, with market share ticking up 3.8% in 2022, research by Ibis World shows.
When Pepperbox opened its second location in 2021, owner Alex Beebe hinted at the resiliency of the doughnut concept, as well — even during a global pandemic.
“It’s always been our goal to open multiple locations,” Beebe told CharlotteFive. “We consider ourselves very lucky with everything going on in terms of COVID that we were really already set up to be ‘to go,’ so it didn’t have to change much to keep employees and customers safe.”
THE COFFEE FACTOR: Remember that coffee we mentioned? It’s actually an even bigger draw than the doughnuts themselves, according to market research company NPD group advisor David Portalatin.
In 2020, he told Food Business News: “We are a nation of coffee drinkers, and while we like our donuts, too, we tend to be fueled by coffee and drink more of it,” said Portalatin, who also wrote “Eating Patterns in America.” “The takeaway for donut shops? If you serve good tasting coffee with your good tasting donuts, consumers will visit.”
This story was originally published June 2, 2022 at 6:05 AM.
