By Dina Gharib
VRG Intern

When I discovered that there was a vegan doughnut business in my neighborhood supplying a vegan exclusive donut menu, I was quick to investigate. After taking a quick trip to their website, I discovered the holy grail of vegan doughnuts. Glory Doughnuts is a young business owned by two seasoned vegans, Alissa and Keirsten, who have a passion for vegan comfort food. By taking a look at their flavors it is obvious that these two are not interested in following the stereotypical, healthy vegan route. In fact, they credit the base of their business to be the animals. Besides providing a menu of vegan exclusive doughnuts, the Glory Doughnuts owners are active members in the vegan community stating,

“We do regular donations to various charities, and follow and promote the vegan community as much as possible, with like minded individuals as well as like minded businesses. We do a lot of shout outs… just to kind of help spread the message; always looking for opportunities to do that. Like most of the events we do, we watch out for pro-animal rights, and/or vegan friendly and/or environmentally friendly events. We’re always keeping it in mind because that’s honestly the base of the business, it’s the animals. We’re always looking for opportunities to support the huge cause!”

S’mores Doughnut

While their doughnuts have become notorious for their exotic flavors, Glory Doughnuts does not currently have a storefront, but managed to gather a strong and wide following of visitors at their summer farmer’s market pop-up stand. Their following, they credit to social media stating, “Everyone who comes up to our stand at the farmer’s market, are always like ‘Oh we saw you on Instagram.’ ‘We saw you on Facebook.’ ‘I saw the doughnuts this morning, and I had to have it.’” The raving reviews and strong following exist for a good reason. Glory Doughnuts are not your typical everyday doughnut. With exquisite flavors like The Carnivale featuring Traditional Yeast with Fair Trade Ganache, Kettle Korn, Roasted Peanuts and Rainbow Jimmies, or the Bootlegger incorporating Traditional Yeast with Apple Pie Moonshine Glaze and organic apples mixed right into the dough; these doughnuts are a force to be reckoned with.

When discussing their decision on having a vegan exclusive menu, Glory Doughnuts was adamant that there was never any pressure to sell non vegan goods, since veganism is such a major part of their lives.

Blue Ribbon Apple Pie Doughnut

“When we started, we set out to make a product that had to be vegan, like that couldn’t be compromised, and one where, I hate to use this term but people use it frequently, but carnivores will like it too.”

When I asked if there were any difficulties with selling their vegan goods to non-vegans, Alissa responded with a very affective yet interesting approach.

“In certain situations we don’t necessarily advertise the fact our product is vegan because we don’t want to deter people who might or might not try our products just because they’re vegan. So we kind of like to do a sneak attack and have people try our stuff, and then we kind of let them know that it doesn’t have any milk, dairy or eggs.”

While their plan may be effective, they did express troubles in creating
vegan doughnuts at an affordable price point.

“We also wanted to use local and organic ingredients as well as vegan ingredients and that isn’t necessarily cheap, so we’re constantly doing market research and constantly trying to find the lowest cost for our ingredients without compromising quality.”

As for their advice to vegans who would like to start a business,

Co-owners of Glory Doughnuts, Keirsten (left) and Alissa (right)

“You have to put your complete heart and soul into your passion. For the past year we’ve been doing this, I’ve also been holding a full time job, so there’s been long days, and we’ve been through some rough times. So now we’re both going full time on doughnuts. Anyways, don’t be afraid to take chances and don’t talk yourself out of doing things. Surround yourself with like minded people and people who support you and your purpose.”

As for the future, Glory Doughnuts is currently looking at spaces in
hopes of opening their first modest storefront location. To order from
Glory doughnuts visit: http://www.glorydoughnuts.com/

For more information about vegetarian and vegan businesses and jobs, see:
http://www.vrg.org/links/JobSearch.htm
http://www.vrg.org/links/
http://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php