A new doughnut shop is bringing fresh mini doughnuts to the University of Connecticut and local Mansfield community.
Dad’s Doughs, located at 483 Storrs Road, is open daily from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., offering a dozen specialty doughnuts and six classic flavors. The specialty flavors are rotated frequently, and six classic doughnuts, which include plain, powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, honey glazed and jelly, are offered every day.
One of the dads behind Dad’s Doughs is Lucas Ahern, co-owner and local restaurateur. He explains their mission of creating doughnuts that are fresh and made to order daily.
“The oldest that your doughnut is going to be from Dad’s Dough’s, realistically, is maybe 30 or 35 minutes at its absolute oldest, just simply because we’re always making fresh batches of donuts,” Ahern said. “Fresh has always been super important to me, regardless of whatever kind of concept I’ve been working in.”
Ahern, who grew up in Mansfield and returned to Connecticut after managing restaurants in Boston said he always wanted to have his own restaurant.
He partnered with local businessman Anthony Raggi and worked to get zoning approval to open the doughnut retail location in the historic former agricultural organization house Echo Grange, which is owned by Raggi.
While Ahern is running the food service side of the shop, he said Raggi is an integral part of the day-to-day business from his experiences in marketing and brand recognition. Raggi owns the insurance business that is located upstairs of the building.
After breaking ground in September, Dad’s Doughs opened on Dec. 6 with their ribbon cutting ceremony. However, located in a university town, this came at a time when most students were headed home for winter break.
While Ahern said the local support from people that live in town has been great, ever since the spring semester started and college students have returned, it has “been a boom for the business.”
Ahern said he has worked with a variety of groups at UConn by making large orders for clubs and organizations, including the Residential Hall Association and approaching this weekend with a 3,000-doughnut order for HuskyTHON, an 18-hour dance marathon on March 8.
“We very much enjoy working with the different organizations, whether it has been members of athletics teams, clubs, or other groups” he said. “I have met people from all over the country, all over the globe and ultimately, the most important part is it doesn’t really matter the organization, people like doughnuts and that has been the most enjoyable thing.”
He explained the rotating specialty flavors attract a younger audience, like college students and out of the 51 specialty flavors they have done so far, a few have been specifically UConn themed.
“Even though we try to focus on a few items and do those items well, if you are a regular of ours, or if you are coming in multiple times a week or even multiple times a month, there are always going to be new options,” he said.
Some flavors will be one and done because they weren’t as popular, but other ones like maple bacon, a doughnut with maple frosting and bacon pieces, or dolce de leche, a doughnut with a whipped cream topping and caramel sauce, have been extremely popular.
When it comes to bringing in new flavors, Ahern said his staff works together to create them, especially on slower days when it is rainy or snowy. Ahern spoke highly of his staff, all of which have worked for him at other restaurants he has managed.
“I have been at Dad’s Dough’s every single day that we have been open at the register in an attempt to greet and say thank you to every single person that comes in and spends their hard-earned dollars here,” Ahern said.
In addition to doughnuts, the shop offers local beverage options from Baronet Coffee Roasters in Windsor, Mountain Dairy in Storrs, Hosmer Mountain Soda in Willimantic and Village Springs in Willington.
Dad’s Doughs offers gluten-free doughnuts sourced from Freedom Gluten Free Bakery out of Woburn, Mass.
Takeout, catering options and online ordering is available at https://dadsdoughs.com/order. No phone orders are accepted.
Great location!!! Can’t wait to try!!!