Since landing in the Historic Third Ward in August 2014, Holey Moley Coffee + Doughnuts quickly became one of the city’s most popular donut destinations and helped push the diversity of local breakfast pastries to innovative and new territory. Sadly, Milwaukee’s first “craft doughnut shop” is no more…at least for the time being.
After closing last year on account of the COVID-19 crisis (excluding a select few socially distant pop-ups last fall), Hospitality Democracy, the restaurant group that owned and operated Holey Moley, recently announced the breakfast brand’s flagship location—and only remaining site—at 316 N. Milwaukee St. will be closing permanently. According to a post on Holey Moley’s website:
“Hospitality Democracy has made the difficult decision to close our Holey Moley storefront at 316 N. Milwaukee St. We opened in 2014 as Milwaukee’s only craft doughnut shop and it’s been a really incredible journey in that location. We’re passionate about the Holey Moley brand and we certainly aren’t ready to say goodbye forever. When the time is right, we’ll find a new home for the concept. Right now, we’re focusing on our full-service restaurants, the busy summer ahead, and some exciting expansion projects that are in the works.”
This latest closure comes after a short-lived tenure at then-Miller Park and, most recently, a presence in Wauwatosa’s Mayfair Collection that ended in 2018. Though we don’t know where or when the concept will resurface, we were fans and we’re glad Hospitality Democracy isn’t giving up on Holey Moley forever.
UPDATE: A specialty donut shop called Donut Monster will be opening at 316 N. Milwaukee St. soon. More details on that can be found here.