Doh'hut heads to London

Doh'hut, which currently has a single bricks and mortar site on Leeds' Trevelyan Square, will make its London debut next month in Exmouth Market under a franchise partnership with Lionshare Group.

Lionshare currently has offers on two further Doh'hut sites, in Covent Garden and South Kensington, with additional locations expected to be announced in the coming months. 

“The USP for the brand is high quality extreme attention to detail,” says Whitney Myrus, managing director of Lionshare.

“Every single location that we are opening will be making the doughnut fresh on site everyday.”

Doh'hut was originally founded by Tom Stafford as a street food brand and serves a limited menu of handmade sugar doughnuts with fillings including raspberry jam, vanilla crème patisserie, and chocolate ganache; alongside a range of coffees, teas and soft drinks.

Stafford launched his first bricks and mortar site in early 2020, having previously spent several years working on the street food circuit during which time Doh'hut won numerous accolades including being named champion at the 2018 British Street Food Awards.

Myrus, who is also a company director and board member of ITICO F+B, which is managing the UK rollout of US brands Eggslut and The Halal Guys, approached Stafford last year about the prospect of bringing Doh'hut to London.

“For every other doughnut concept out there, there's nobody else in the capital or, quite frankly, across the UK that is solely dedicated to creating this kind of English-style sugar doughnut,” says Myrus. 

“I know for sure that there is a tremendous opportunity in this market for a brand like this.”

Myrus adds that Doh'hut is aiming to open up to 50 sites across the UK in the next fives years, and is also advising the brand on its broader franchise development. 

The Exmouth Market site will have a small footprint and be positioned as a grab-and-go location, but Myrus adds that he hopes to take on slightly larger sites as the brand develops that could hold between 10 and 20 covers.

He is also planning to target travel hubs with a view to opening smaller, kiosk-style sites that would serve doughnuts made in a nearby central kitchen.

The launch of Doh'hut's first London site comes as Stafford also prepares to launch a sandwich shop called Things In Bread next door to his Doh'hut site in Leeds.

Things In Bread will serve a menu of 'classic' deep-filled sandwiches with options including egg and cress, salmon and cream cheese, and a BLT.