Donut Love in Exeter: Owner says new shop, menu could serve as model for future stores

EXETER — Comfort Bakery has been gutted and flipped into the newest Donut Love location as the new owners look to grow the Seacoast brand.

The brand-new counter, seating area and kitchen will be ready for customers Wednesday, Aug. 23, when Donut Love has its soft opening on the corner of the plaza at 75 Portsmouth Ave. The grand opening will be Thursday, Aug. 24, a year after the bakery and brand were sold by its founder to the owners of the Friendly Toast — Goodwin Family Management.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Tyler Goodwin, chief operating officer of the new management group. “We’ve been really looking forward to showing the community what we built here.”

Comfort Bakery was opened by Donut Love founder Mike Oliveira in 2021 as its own brand. The bakery sold Donut Love doughnuts and items like bagels and desserts, such as cream puffs and whoopie pies.

Oliveira sold both businesses to the new owners in August 2022. Goodwin said they wanted both locations to have brand consistency, so they closed Comfort in April to remake it as Donut Love.

A Donut Love sign now hangs over the front door, and customers will walk in to see a new counter with a glass display case that runs almost the width of the restaurant. The kitchen was completely outfitted for baking, as it had the same setup as when it was a seafood restaurant, the Lobster Boat.

Ten percent of proceeds from the soft and grand openings will go to Waypoint, which provides services for children and families. Waypoint recently merged with the Richie McFarland Center.

Goodwin, standing in front of the new Donut Love, heard more than one person walk or drive by and ask if the new space was finally open again.

“We’re super excited to get this location open and get it off the ground,” Goodwin said.

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Donut Love expands menu with new doughnuts, breakfast offerings

Two new varieties of doughnuts, heated breakfast items, and an emphasis on catering have become part of the new Donut Love model. The items are baked in Exeter and brought via truck to Donut Love's location on Route 1 in North Hampton.

Donut Love began with strictly potato-based doughnuts, popular in Maine. Now, Donut Love will also feature yeast-leavened doughnuts similar to the honey-dip style, as well as a “contemporary” line of hand-cranked cake doughnuts, according to Goodwin. He said the potato-style doughnuts are now called Donut Love’s “vintage” line because the table-cut potato doughnut was an early style.

“We have something for everybody,” Goodwin said. “Everybody’s doughnut taste.”

Breakfast items like frittatas, yogurts and hand pies filled with breakfast meat, eggs and cheese have diversified the menu as well, according to Goodwin. Doughnuts can also be toasted in a new Merrychef oven that can heat items in just seconds.

“A warm doughnut that’s heated up on the spot is something we don’t feel like is being offered,” Goodwin said. “You can get a piping hot hand pie and a nice warm doughnut to take home, and have that freshness associated with it, too.”

Goodwin said the hope is that such breakfast items will broaden Donut Love’s appeal beyond sweets. The hope, he said earlier this year, was for Donut Love to compete with chains like Starbucks and Dunkin’ for the first choice in people’s morning stop.

“They can make a visit to Donut Love part of their morning routine as opposed to more of a special occasion doughnut they bring home to celebrate something, not necessarily eat every day,” Goodwin said.

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Goodwin hopes to grow Donut Love brand

Goodwin said his management group has quickly become educated on doughnuts. His favorite part is trying each of the different flavors, he said.

“All the taste testing I’ve been able to do,” Goodwin said. “I have to watch myself a little bit.”

Goodwin Family Management has also owned the Friendly Toast since 2014. In that time, they have grown it from two locations in Portsmouth and Cambridge, Massachusetts, to 11 spots across Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.

The first Donut Love location was opened by Oliveira in 2017 across the street from the Shel-Al Campground in honor of his late mother Kathy. He had left behind a law enforcement career in pursuit of work he found to be more uplifting. Now that he has sold his stores, he has started a new business detailing cars coming directly to customers’ homes.

Goodwin said the brand Oliveira built was strong, which is why they thought it was a good opportunity to own and grow it like they did the Friendly Toast. Before taking that next step, though, he said they need to perfect their model in their newly reopened Exeter space.

“I don’t think we can consider it a success until this location becomes successful in its new phase of life,” Goodwin said.

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This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Donut Love opening new Exeter location with expanded menu