Vegan doughnut shop Lovebirds Donuts recently opened in Kittery, ME. Owned by Tamara Monroe and Ryan MacDougal, Lovebirds grew from a love of brewing beer and baking bread, which turned into an obsession with yeast-raised doughnuts. “Ryan has been baking bread and brewing beer for years,” Monroe told VegNews. “We thought it would be a fun idea to take some of the foundational fermentation concepts he’d been practicing and parlay those into a craft doughnut business. As a vegan, I really wanted our shop to use no animal products. Turns out that doughnuts, when made from scratch and using artisanal techniques, are surprisingly easy to make vegan. Guests who aren’t vegan simply enjoy a really tasty doughnut, and those who are vegan are excited to enjoy something they haven’t had in years.” Lovebirds offers both raised and cake doughnuts in an array of local and international-inspired flavors, such as Strawberry Shortcake, Whoopie Pie, Boston Cream, Cherry Lime Rickey, and Glazed Brioche. The menu will change monthly to highlight seasonal flavors, but traditional favorites such as Old Fashioned, Chocolate Glazed, and Cinnamon Sugar will always appear on the menu, along with Equal Exchange coffee and oat milk. Monroe and MacDougal draw doughnut flavor inspiration from their travels, and from unexpected things like cocktails, candies, fragrances, flowers, and herbs. They hope to open additional LoveBirds locations in the future. “We are still very new, but the incredible outpouring of support we’ve received in opening a vegan doughnut shop has exceeded our expectations and makes us eager and excited to move forward with these goals as soon as possible,” Monroe said.
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