Washington DC Gets Its First Vegan Doughnut Shop

Washington, DC’s first all-vegan doughnut shop, Donut Run, will open in Spring 2019. Donut Run plans to offer 10 daily flavors such as Glazed, Chocolate, Strawberry, and Boston Cream, along with rotating specials such as Cookies-and-Cream Filled, Peanut Butter Chocolate Oreo, Cap’n Crunch, Baklava, Matcha, S’mores, and Gingerbread. Donut Run will also offer weekly savory specials such as doughnut sandwiches. Husband-and-wife team Shawn Petersen and Nicole Dao—high-school sweethearts who adopted a plant-based diet together in their early teens—first began selling specialty doughnuts at pop-ups and through special orders in DC last year. “We have been vegan for over a decade, and we both have a passion for food,” Dao told VegNews. “We’ve driven hours just to try new vegan restaurants, and we have literally planned trips around food.” During their travels, the couple noticed a plethora of doughnut shops across the country and wanted to open a shop close to home. “Donuts have always been one of our favorite foods, and we wanted to bring a shop to DC,” Dao said, adding that Donut Run’s objective is to create “the most ridiculous and delicious menu possible.” All-vegan doughnut shops have been popping up around the globe in recent years, including Brammibal’s Donuts in Berlin, Crosstown in London, United Kingdom, Donut Alliance in Baltimore, MD, The Vegan Doughnut Company in Lakewood, OH, Vegan Donut Gelato in Oakland, CA, and Fry Baby Donut Co. in Buffalo, NY.