(Image: Dough Joy)
Willis and Ballard (Image: Dough Joy)
Born earlier this year as a plant-based, yeast-raised donut truck, Dough Joy is pulling onto E Pike with plans for a new Capitol Hill shop.
Owners Sean Willis and Christopher Ballard shared the news with CHS about their plans to open next month in the former Old School Frozen Custard shop on upper E Pike. They’ll be on Capitol Hill to celebrate — you can find Dough Joy pop-ups at the 19th Ave E Fuel on Friday and E Jefferson’s Peloton on Sunday.
“We are so excited to bring our business to this vibrant community, and think it’ll be a great addition to the north end of Pike as well,” Willis and Ballard said in their announcement. We’ll forgive them the directional imprecision — it’s more like the east end of Pike — as Dough Joy’s homebase until now has been the Ballard neighborhood.
Dough Joy launched earlier this year as a vegan donut truck with “plant based handmade yeast raised donuts” and flavors like the Basic B glazed, Chocoholic, Cinny French Toast, Strawberry Milkshake, Mango con Chile, and Little Dippers, donut holes served with chocolate or caramel sauce. Current “specials” include Chocolate Twist, Cinnamon Glazed Twist, and a Pumpkin Spice Fritter.
Starting at $4 a pop, the pricing puts these round creations squarely in the Central Seattle artisanal donut rage.
On Capitol Hill, Dough Joy joins a vegan food and drink community including the first Frankie and Jo’s ice cream shop, 2019-born Life on Mars, and scene veteran Makini Howell’s 12th Ave joint Plum.
UPDATE: We left out the closest vegan cousin of all. The Mighty-O chain took over the old High 5 Pie space in 2015 bringing its version of vegan donuts to the Hill only a few blocks from the future Dough Joy at Madison and 12th Ave.
Meanwhile, the neighborhood’s donut scene was upgraded in October 2019 when Top Pot founder Michael Klebeck opened Half on Half on E Pike. More donut goodness is coming to the area. The Central District’s Raised Doughnuts will move into the new Midtown Square development when the mixed-use project completes construction and opens… soon.
On E Pike, Dough Joy replaces Old School after the frozen custard shop shut down during the pandemic after more than a decade of business on Capitol Hill. Plans include a custom-built wooden counter and donut display case, a full coffee bar, plus floors made with “a gorgeous white and pink marbled epoxy,” custom neon lighting on the back wall, and a new mural.
To help make the November opening happen, Willis and Ballard are raising funds from friends and supporters in a crowdfunding effort with rewards and gifts for donors. Stretch goals include enough money to fund “automated jelly injectors” and a sidewalk cafe space.
“Many of our customers have said, ‘Wow! I can’t believe these donuts are vegan!’,” the donut entrepreneurs write in their crowdfunding pitch. “And that’s our goal: to make donuts that everyone can enjoy and show how plant-based food can be just as good — if not better — than animal-based options.”
Dough Joy is planned to open in November at 1316 E Pike. You can learn more at doughjoydonuts.com.
HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE
Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you.
Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.
Actually it’s located in the Tip of the P/P Triangle!
Aren’t Mighty O donuts vegan? And also a couple minutes walk from this new shop? Seems worth mentioning I’m the context of this story.
https://www.mightyo.com/ingredients-nutrition-facts/