Owner of the increasingly popular PVDonuts, Lori Kettelle shares insight into the journey from small pop up to destination donut shop with GoLocalProv’s Laura Afonso. What started on Allan’s Ave, quickly outgrew the space and relocated to its current location on Ives Street.
“Coming into it, we never thought we would be here now when we started. Donuts were really new to me, I learned about making donuts through PVDonuts. I went to Johnson and Wales for pastry and baking and my husband Paul had a business background so we were the perfect team,” says Kettelle.
The wildly creative donuts sparked quite the craze, with folks coming from all over to get their hands on one of PVDonuts gigantic, funky flavors.
“Whenever I have an idea the first thing I do is Pinterest it and see how I can do it differently. I try to see how it can be deconstructed. If we do a banana split during the summer, I will look up banana split plated desserts and apply that to a donut. We see donuts as a plate, or a palate to build off of,” says Kettelle.
PVDonuts turns over a new menu every month, with new seasonal flavors.
“We offer brioche which is buttery, old fashion which is denser, and we also offer cake donuts which are monthly staples. We also offer crullers which are my favorite and I will say that we kill the cruller game."
Everything at PVDonuts is made in house, from scratch. With fun toppings like homemade marshmallow all the way to a whole slice of birthday cake, Kettelle takes pride in her confectionary work, “That is something that I have always strived for, even when we were a team of five. It shows the customers that we care and that we are putting everything into it.”
PVDonuts will make over a thousand donuts a day during the week, and over two thousand on the weekends, and they often sell out. They recently expanded into the space next door, and was able to grow the size of their kitchen.
Being closed on Monday’s gives Paul and Lori Kettelle and the PVDonuts staff a breather before another busy week.
Taking advantage of the empty space, they host an “After Hours," collaborating with other local businesses. Kettelle says “It is offering something that we normally don't. We will have beers and ciders, as an alternative to a Monday night out. We want to go as extra as we can and partner with as many people as we can. We did one with Bucktown and Burgundian for a fried chicken and waffles donut, and we sold out in an hour and a half.”
Follow PVDonuts on Instagram at @PVDonuts to stay up to date with their new menus and weekend specials, and visit their website to place advanced and special orders.
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