Voodoo Doughnut : Good Things Come In Pink Box

‘During your visit to Portland if you miss Voodoo Doughnut place, it is something like returning from from Haridwar without taking bath in holy Ganga.’ When I heard this from a friend of mine, I could not understand what is so special about the place and its doughnuts. But once we were there, saw the place, felt its ambience and tasted the doughnuts, we realized it is so true. We reached to the shop next to Theatre Paris in downtown, it was almost lunch time but there was a long queue to grab the pink box. We were told that long queue is a constant feature at Voodoo. I saw the similar craziness at the original Starbucks Coffee shop at Pike Place market in Seattle downtown.

This notorious 24x7 doughnut shop Voodoo Doughnut was founded by Tres Shannon and Kenneth “Cat Daddy” Pogson to fill a void in Portland’s late night dining scene. Apparently there was a spiritual void as well as the two gentlemen also preside over Voodoo’s numerous weddings. That’s right: while the doughnuts are the main attraction, committing to eternal love is also an option thanks to several legally-binding wedding and commitment ceremony packages, replete with in-house refreshments.

The Voodoo journey begins, like so many other great American stories, in the sun-drenched Los Angeles suburb of Pico Rivera, California. Tres Shannon is anything but a typical doughnut salesman. Once he was the lead singer of a Rolling Stones cover band. He also contested for the post of mayor for the city of Portland, Oregon. He also ran a punk rock club for few years.
Eighteen years back, Tres with his friend Cat Daddy thought of doing something different and unusual, and pinned down to start doughnut business. First the duo refined dough tossing and rolling skills amongst some very generous doughnut senseis. It wasn’t long before the two were injecting jelly and dusting sugar onto fried dough with the gusto and grace as those with decades of doughnut-making experience.

Within months of landing back on their home turf in Portland, the budding entrepreneurs went to work immediately building out their first doughnut shop in Portland’s downtown—also known as “The Crotch of Portland.”

The tiny storefront in Old Town is decorated with velvet paintings and newspaper clippings of minor stars and public figures’, lit by the one and only Cruller Chandelier of Life. In a city brimming with oddities, it’s the doughnuts that really distinguish Voodoo from the rest of the field. Popular flavors include Cap’n Crunch (raised doughnut, vanilla icing, and Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries), Ol’ Dirty Bastard (chocolate cake doughnut with chocolate icing, Guvava Colada, Oreo cookie crumbles, and peanut butter drizzled on top), the Bacon Maple Bar (take a traditional maple bar and, yes, add bacon), and the eponymous doughnut consisting of a gingerbread-man shaped doughnut covered in chocolate icing and punctured by pretzels, from whose wounds ooze raspberry filling.

The Voodoo ran into some trouble when they were confronted by the Food and Drug Administration after selling Nyquil glazed doughnut and the Vanilla Pepto Crushed Tums donuts to wrecked party-goers.

“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 a** off and then feel better because you got it out of your system. So it was a win-win either way,” reasoned Pogson.

In addition to doubling as a wedding chapel, secular events are regularly held at the shops to enhance the communal doughnut loving. Back in the day, the store offered free Swahili lessons to visitors before the evening rush.

Uptil August 2017, at midnight on the first Friday of every month, Voodoo used to hold a doughnut eating contest. One of these very contest provided the basis for the oft-attempted “Tex-Ass Challenge” in which a participant attempts to eat the Tex-Ass doughnut (an enormous glazed doughnut equal to six of the regular doughnuts) in under 90 seconds amidst an alternately cheering or heckling crowd; rarely do folks succeed, but winnings include the price of the Tex-Ass and some hefty bragging rights. Just say the word and a (somewhat) friendly doughnut staff-member will set festivities in motion. At their Denver outlet, a man named Travis Malouff trying to eat a half-pound glazed doughnut in 80 seconds as part of a Denver eating challenge choked to death, one of two people who died in such contests. Malouff, 42, died of asphyxia due to obstruction of the airway, a coroner said. He had been participating in a contest to eat a doughnut the "size of a small cake," witness Julia Edelstein. With that Voodoo Doughnuts suspended the contest..


In 2008, Voodoo expanded to a second location on the east side of the Willamette River (which bisects Portland’s city center). Unlike the original, Voodoo Too has ample parking, seating space, and a bubble hockey game to divert patrons 21 hours of every day. The original location is open 24/7, though the shop’s interior may be closed during low-traffic hours, whence customers belly-up to the adjacent ‘doughnut window’ on the building’s exterior to be served drive-thru style.

Should the Voodoo experience have made a lasting impression, visitors are encouraged to purchase the various memorabilia for sale in the shops. After all, who doesn’t need a pair of pink briefs with “Good things come in pink boxes” scrawled over one’s rear?

If there was ever a business that captured the kooky essence of Portland, it's Voodoo. From the belly of two locations, sweet-fingered magicians concoct what might best be described as avant-garde doughnuts: when Voodoo first opened, it offered doughnuts glazed with NyQuil and dusted with Pepto-Bismol — until the health department put the kibosh on them. Lest that sound unappetizing, please know that Voodoo 's other offerings are actually quite delicious. The namesake Voodoo Doughnut is shaped like a voodoo doll and oozes blood red jelly, while the official city doughnut, the googly-eyed Portland Crème, kicks Boston's keister.

The company now have about 150 employees and $600,000 in annual revenue. Unusually, Voodoo Doughnut only accepts cash payments (no debit, credit, or checks), though they do host ATMs, with only exception at Universal City Walk in California, where they accept credit cards. 

Cash Only

At the time of writing this, there are seven more locations. The original location opened in 2003 at 22 SW 3rd Avenue, just south of the Burnside Bridge, 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 sq ft to 2,300 sq ft and reopened in June 2011.

In December 2013, the company opened its first location outside of Oregon in Denver at Colfax Avenue. In March 2017, they opened its first location at Universal City Walk Hollywood in California. This year they have arrived at Universal City Walk Orlando, Florida.

Secret of Popularity

Though there are many factors in unprecedented popularity of the brand, but the real secret is inventing and reinventing. Vegan doughnuts are also featured along with a rotating and frequently changing menu of specialty doughnuts and unusual variations on traditional varieties. The outlet offers over 100 varieties, in total. Unconventional ingredients include Cap’n Crunch, grape flavored Tang, M&M, 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 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."

Accolades

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.

In 2010, television documentary ‘The Simpsons 20th Aniversary Special’ featured a segment in which filmmaker Morgan Spurlock paid a visit to the Voodoo Doughnut location.

Poplarity of the Voodoo reached to Tonight Show, in one of the episode in 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 was shot in Portland, was the first actually set in the city. Additionally, the pink box has appeared in the second episode of season one of Grimm and the episodes "Like a Virgin" and "All in the Family" in 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, Big Duck, The Deep Fried Boogie Band and Devin Millar.