Celebrate National Doughnut Day at these 8 locally-owned spots in Louisville

Someday, when all is right in the universe, National Doughnut Day will be deservedly recognized as a national holiday, and we'll be able to celebrate with the day off. But until then, you can just recognize the occasion by swinging by one of Louisville's many doughnut bakeries in honor of the holiday on June 2.

Sure, Louisville has the national favorites, with six Dunkin' Donuts locations and three Krispy Kreme shops around town. There's even a brand-new Duck Donuts location in Louisville. But if you're looking for something with a little more local flavor this morning (or afternoon, no judging here) you have some options.

Adrienne and Company

1212 S. Fourth St. in Louisville; 129 W. Court Ave. in Jeffersonville, cakestoday.com/

A longtime mainstay in Jeffersonville and Southern Indiana, Adrienne and Company recently opened up a shop across the river and quickly made a name for itself as one of the top bakeries in Old Louisville. Come for the fresh doughnuts, and stay for the 25-cent thumbprint cookies.

If you're interested in the history of the event, National Doughnut Day was established in 1938 to honor the Salvation Army Donut Lassies — women who served doughnuts to soldiers during World War I. So keep that in mind when you're chowing down today.

You may like: Are Donuts the perfect to-go food? For National Doughnut Day, we asked these Louisville experts

Clifton Donut Shop

2317 Brownsboro Road, 502-749-6896, facebook.com/cliftondonut/

Thai Eng told the Courier Journal in 2020 that business was going well, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the shop's most popular item is its mix-your-own dozen — customers get to choose a variety of doughnuts to fill the box.

"For people that don't come into the shop, it’s been easy because they usually just let us mix it up for them," Eng said, adding that all the doughnuts and sandwiches at this locally-owned shop "are made fresh every morning. We make sure our products are as fluffy and as lean as possible."

Duck Donuts

4600 Shelbyville Road, Suite 634, 502-614-6657, duckdonuts.com/location/louisville-ky. 

Duck Donuts opened its Louisville Location in February 2021, the 100th store for the nationwide company. The donuts are served warm, delicious, and made to order and the most popular item on the menu is the Maple Bacon Donut, which has maple icing and chopped bacon.

Earlier this year, manager Kristin Kellum said it's important to support local restaurants right now. "Although Duck Donuts is a corporate franchise, our Louisville location is locally owned and operated. We cannot thank the Louisville community enough for supporting us every single day since we have opened."

You may like: This wildly popular donut franchise is opening its first Kentucky location in St. Matthews

Dough Baby Donuts

106 W Adams St., La Grange, 502-602-0020, doughbabydonuts.com

This doughnut shop in La Grange serves up all the classics you yearn for, but its top sellers are this Bourbon Fill or Tiger Tails. If you've never been be sure to check out the shop this month. It does a “donut of the month” every month, so check out their Facebook page to see the next fun doughnut.

Here's something else you might not know — the main owner of Dough Baby’s three owners is a 21-year-old young man. His father and Jennifer Mills are owners simply to help him "because he was too young to get a loan. But he makes all the decisions, does payroll, makes the doughnuts, and everything. His grandfather had a donut shop in that same building 22 years ago, and he was determined to reopen it," Mills told the Courier Journal previously.

Hi-Five Doughnuts

1940 Harvard Dr., hifivedoughnuts.com

Hi-Five Doughnuts, which opened its storefront at 1011 E. Main St. in 2017 after previously operating as a food truck, recently moved to 1940 Harvard Drive in the Douglass Loop. Owned by Annie Harlow and Leslie Wilson, their doughnuts are huge and hard to miss, with plenty of bright frosting and strong flavors.

Background: A specialty doughnut shop near downtown Louisville is moving to Douglass Loop

Nord's Bakery

2118 S. Preston St., nordsbakery.biz/

A Louisville classic. You might know them for their maple bacon doughnuts — it's a combo that seems tough to screw up, but they take it to the next level and make it worth the trip down near the University of Louisville. Nord's also churns out plenty of other quality doughnuts, cookies, cakes and other pastries.

You may like: Epic tacos and loaded fries: 5 new restaurants opening in Louisville this month

North Lime Coffee & Donuts

1228 S 7th St., 1301 Herr Lane; northlime.net/

North Lime opened in Old Louisville after years of success in Lexington. Down the street from the University of Louisville in Old Louisville, its pastries are made using local ingredients, and the shop often offers unique specials, like pulled pork doughnuts (we don't know if that's a good or bad thing, but it is a thing).

The Old Louisville spot, which is open from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily, features six doughnut flavors every day: Plain Glazed, Chocolate Iced, Funkfetti, Cinnamon Sugar, Funnel Cake, and donut holes called Cinna Monkey.

"That is our biggest day of the year," manager Kayla Hawkins said of National Doughnut Day. "(It) is absolutely insane. We will offer vegan and gluten-friendly doughnuts that day. We’ll also probably have something called Sprinkle Explosion, which has traditional funfetti cake with sprinkles on the inside."

You may like: These creative, from-scratch donuts in Old Louisville 'are going to change your life'

Sugar & Spice Donut Shop

5613 Bardstown Road, sugarandspicedonuts.com/

Sugar & Spice serves the Fern Creek area and is worth a visit if you're on lower Bardstown Road. The shop offers a full spread of all your classic favorite doughnuts and is a longtime favorite for many in the region.

Reporters Dahlia Ghabour and Lennie Omalza contributed to this report. Lucas Aulbach can be reached at laulbach@courier-journal.com, 502-582-4649 or on Twitter @LucasAulbachCJ.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: National Donut Day: Where to get donuts in Louisville