Established 2003 (2003) Dress code Casual | Food type Doughnuts Street address 22 SW 3rd Avenue | |
 | ||
Slogan "The Magic is in the Hole" Current owner(s) Tres Shannon and
Kenneth "Cat Daddy" Pogson | ||
Voodoo Doughnut is an independent doughnut shop based in Portland, Oregon, known for its unusual doughnuts, eclectic decor, and iconic pink boxes featuring the company logo and illustrations of voodoo priests. The company maintains two shops and a cart in Portland, and shops in Eugene, Denver, Austin, Universal City, and Taipei.
Contents
Company
The company has about 70 employees and $600,000 in annual revenue. Unusually, the business only accepts cash payments (no debit, credit, or checks), though they do host ATMs. Voodoo Doughnut offers legal wedding services, complete with doughnuts and coffee for the reception. The Los Angeles Times noted that Voodoo is an international tourist attraction.
There are six locations. The original location opened in 2003 at 22 SW 3rd Avenue, just south of the Burnside Bridge, around the corner from Dan and Louis Oyster Bar, and adjacent to The Paris Theater, a historic adult movie house. Another location is just over a mile away at 1501 NE Davis Street which opened in June 2008, and one in Eugene, Oregon, that opened officially in June 2010. The flagship shop closed in April 2011 for an extensive remodeling, which utilized part of Berbati's Pan, the now-closed nightclub next door. It expanded from 750 square feet (70 m2) to 2,300 sq ft (210 m2) and reopened in June 2011.
In December 2013, the company opened its first location outside of Oregon on Colfax Avenue in Denver on Friday the 13th.
In March 2017, the company opened its first location in California at Universal CityWalk.
Doughnuts
In addition to the examples below, vegan doughnuts are also featured along with a rotating and frequently changing menu of specialty doughnuts and unusual variations on traditional varieties. The company offers over 100 varieties, in total. Unconventional ingredients include Cap'n Crunch, grape flavored Tang, M&M's, Oreo cookies, and marshmallows.
Two of their doughnuts, the NyQuil Glazed doughnut and the Vanilla Pepto Crushed Tums doughnut, are no longer available due to order of local health officials. According to one of the co-owners, "the NyQuil one was kind of a lark, but that’s the one that got the most famous. With the Pepto doughnut, I honestly thought if you had that shot of tequila you shouldn’t have at 2:00 a.m., and then you got sugar, bread, Pepto, and Tums, you’d either feel better or puke your ass off and then feel better because you got it out of your system. So it was a win-win either way."
On December 24, 2008, Voodoo's "Portland Creme" was designated as Portland's "Official City Doughnut" by a resolution introduced by Portland Mayor Tom Potter and passed by city commissioners the same night. The resolution also expressed Portlanders' "deepest gratitude to Voodoo Doughnut management for its dedication in the face of these stringent economic times in providing employment opportunities... and above all, creating and naming a doughnut after our beloved city that leaves a lasting taste and fond memories on its customers near and far away." Later, mayor Tom Potter and mayoral candidate Sam Adams attended a regular midnight doughnut-eating contest.
Locations
To celebrate their fifth anniversary, Voodoo Doughnut opened a second location at 1501 NE Davis Street in the Kerns neighborhood. The store began a "soft opening" on May 30, 2008 with limited hours. The official opening occurred in June 2008 and was rung in with a parade that led from the original location to the new one.
In their first foray outside of Portland, Voodoo Doughnut opened a third location in Eugene, Oregon, at the corner of Broadway and Willamette in downtown Eugene. The store began a "soft opening" May 7, 2010 with limited hours. The official opening occurred on June 5, 2010. This location also contains the chain's traditionally whimsical decor, in addition to a piano in the seating area and a velvet painting of a crying Conan O'Brien with animated tear drops. For the 2010 edition of "Best Of Eugene Weekly", Voodoo Tres won "Best New Addition To Eugene" and "Best Downtown Business."
A 4th location was built in Denver, Colorado, and a 5th location in Austin, Texas.
Television
Voodoo Doughnut has been featured on the Travel Channel's series by Anthony Bourdain No Reservations, Man v. Food, Doughnut Paradise, and G4's Attack of the Show, as well as the Pacific Northwest edition of Globe Trekker. It was a destination in the season finale of the 13th season of The Amazing Race.
In 2010, television documentary The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special – In 3-D! On Ice! featured a segment in which filmmaker Morgan Spurlock paid a visit to the Voodoo Doughnut Too location.
Jay Leno included Voodoo Doughnut in a Tonight Show opening monologue: "Did you hear about the doughnut shop in Portland, Oregon, that has caffeinated doughnuts? Yeah, I guess you can stay awake during your bypass surgery." Voodoo Doughnut would later be mentioned again when Amanda Seyfried appeared on the show in support of her 2012 film, Gone.
The shop's doughnuts, including the distinctive pink box, appeared in a fourth-season episode of the TNT drama series Leverage. This episode of the show, which films in Portland, was the first actually set in that city. Additionally, the pink box has appeared in the second episode of season one of Grimm and the episodes "Like a Virgin""All in the Family" Supernatural.
Voodoo Doughnut Recordings
In 2013, Voodoo Doughnut had set up a record label named Voodoo Doughnut Recordings which is home to many music artists such as Larry Wilder, The Doughnut Boys, The Deep Fried Boogie Band and Devin Millar.