Ikea to release 'meatball donut' for National Donut Day
The Ikea West Chester store will be part of the Butler County Donut Trail, complete with its own stamp for the trail’s passport.
Ikea will be celebrating National Donut Day Friday in a unique way, by offering the public a free Swedish meatball donut.
The free donuts will be offered for two days, Friday and Saturday
The donut features a light and fluffy base, lingonberry glaze and sauce, topped with either the meatball or plant-based ball – for vegetarians.
The restaurant’s food teams began experimenting on how to find a way to incorporate a meatball into a donut. After rejecting sliced or crumbled meatballs, the team settled with putting a small meatball on top.
“We always like things that are new, interesting and never experienced before,’’ said Tracy Kocher, spokeswoman for Travel Butler County, creators of the donut trail. “We were excited about this. We created a blue and yellow stamp for Ikea Sweden’s colors.”
Anyone filling their passport with stamps from all 13 donut shops on the trail – and the Ikea stamp – will get something besides the traditional T-shirt when turning in their passport at the Travel Butler County office.
Designed specifically for the West Chester store, the limited-edition donut will be offered free from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the store, 9500 Ikea Way, off Muhlhauser Road.
“It’s something we’ve never done before – it started last year as an idea, we were joking around,’’ said Kitalena Mason, Ikea’s loyalty manager.
But after mulling the idea around and thinking about the company’s iconic Swedish meatball plate offered in the store’s restaurant, the idea began to take shape.
“We thought, ‘this could turn into something.’ There’s no other thing that could work,’’ Mason said. “There’s no wrong way to donut.”
Besides getting a stamp for the Donut Trail passport, those sampling the donut can take a selfie at the back of the restaurant where a station will be set up, Mason said.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ikea West Chester to release 'meatball donut' for National Donut Day
