A popular online donut brand that boasts its products have half the calories and one-seventh the fat of traditional donuts is opening its first brick-and-mortar shop — after 10 years as a web-based retailer.
Holey Donuts is slated to open at 101 Seventh Avenue South this May.
“Our donuts are unique,” said owner Frank Dilullo. “They don’t taste low fat. I found a unique way to cook them without deep frying. Everyone loves donuts, they just hate the fat, calories and guilt associated with them.”
In addition to gaining instant gratification — customers used to have to order online and wait 24 hours or more for delivery — New Yorkers also will pay less for Holey Donuts. They cost around $85 for 18 donuts to ship by FedEx and will cost just under $3.50 apiece — or around $63 — in the store.
Richard A. Zangrillo, a broker at Bond New York Properties, repped Holey Donuts in obtaining the 1,200-square-foot shop, which had been home to a cupcake retailer.
Unlike most donut shops, Holey Donuts will not display any donuts, said Dilullo, the owner and son of an owner of several Dunkin’ Donuts stores, who witnessed first-hand the waste of making so many unsold donuts for display.
Instead, Holey Donuts will be kept warm in a machine that holds 480 at a time “in perfect humidity” and each will be taken out individually for orders, which will all be custom, Dilullo said.
While traditional donuts have 20 grams of fat, or more, Holey Donuts have 3 to 5 grams of fat; on the calorie side, a Holey donut will cost you about 148 versus 350 at Krispy Kreme or Dunkin’ Donuts.
In another twist, Holey Donuts will not accept cash — only debit and credit cards — to keep things safer and cleaner, Dilullo added.
The company produces more than 2,000 donuts a day in its Brooklyn facility.
Dilullo, who moved to Manhattan from Miami to oversee the retail store, says his plan is to “rapidly develop” a chain.
“We want to build as big and as fast as the public wants,” Dilullo said.
Forget cake, let them eat salad!
Just Salad is opening three new locations in the city.
The casual eatery, which has 11 locations in New York and Hong Kong, will open a 1,600-square-foot location, with additional outdoor seating, at 1306 First Avenue, at 70th Street, in late March.
In April, they plan to open two other Manhattan locations — at 325 Hudson St. and 90 Broad St. — in addition to a Dubai branch in the Jumeirah Lake Towers area.
CEO Nick Kenner launched the company in 2006. At the time, he was a hedge-fund trader who was tired of his lunch choices. Kenner raised $50,000 from friends and family to launch.