MORGAN PILZ/BAYSIDE GAZETTE
The Hungry Donut staff smile for a photo in Ocean Pines on Saturday, July 7. Pictured, from left, is Casey Shaffer, Brooke Moore, Rachel Cohen and owner Jay Shoup.

By Morgan Pilz, Staff Writer

(July 13, 2018) Attention all donut lovers and sugar cravers, the Hungry Donut is open for business on Nicholas Lane in Ocean Pines.

The shop officially opened Sunday, July 1, and has been serving piping hot cake donuts with dozens of icings, drizzles and toppings to choose from.

“Everything’s hot and fresh and ready to go,” owner Jay Shoup said. “We make them to order. Our product speaks for itself, but if I can bring [customers] in, I can bring them back.”

Shoup’s inspiration to open a donut shop can be traced back to his childhood, when his father would bring hot donuts to his family every morning while they vacationed in Ocean Pines.

Shoup tested several different recipes before choosing one from a recipe book dating back to the late 1950’s. The result is a light, airy, hint of lemon vanilla cake donut.

“I think our reviews actually speaks for us,” Shoup said. “The reception not only in the community of Ocean Pines has been great, but we’ve had people come all over – Millsboro, Salisbury, Ocean City – [all] based off word of mouth that’s been going around. People were very excited about us.”

Icing flavors vary from traditional favorites such as chocolate, strawberry and vanilla, to unique ones like mint, grape, maple, blueberry, peanut butter and Nutella.

A thinner drizzle option is also available and features flavors including coffee, raspberry, strawberry, dark chocolate, caramel, hot fudge and malt.

Customers can also choose from 20 different toppings, such as Oreo crumbles, Fruit Loops, Sour Patch Kids, gummy worms, sprinkles, Swedish fish, chocolate chips, and even bacon.

“There’s pretty much something for everyone,” Shoup said. “We have over 150,000 different variations.”

Several donuts have catchy names, such as Piggy-Piggy (maple glaze and bacon), Bam-Bam (Fruity Pebbles and vanilla glaze), Somewhere on a Beach (glaze and cinnamon sugar), Loopy (vanilla glaze and Fruit Loops), and The Big Top (vanilla glaze and rainbow sprinkles).

“If you like donuts, we give free smiles,” Shoup said. “[Also,] I think we provide a superior product to any other donut shop…Our donuts are light and airy and cakey, and [have] a lot less grease than what some of the other competitors [have].”

Those with nut allergies should not be discouraged, as all donuts are made from scratch, new gloves are used to prepare each one and the dough is fried in soybean oil.

The donut shop is currently open daily from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. However, Shoup has plans to stay open until 8 p.m. on the weekends and Fridays.

“We have multiple restaurants and delis [surrounding us] and people are looking for a late-night snack or dessert after dinner,” Shoup said.

For more information, call 410-208-1100 or visit The Hungry Donut on Facebook, or www.thehungrydonut.com.