Euston Park’s Owners Opening New Pop-Up Donut Shop
MONCTON – Restaurateurs Susan and Gene Cormier are at it again. For their fourth new business within about a year and a half, the couple has partnered with donut maker Jacques Allain to open Halo Donuts.
The pop-up donut shop on 110 St. George St. will open from October to December this year.
“It’s very overdue,” says Susan. “We’ve been talking about it for a couple of years, but we weren’t quite ready to put anything into action. So we’re excited that it’s finally coming into play.”
What moved the needle were the donuts Allain tested out during lockdown.
“He actually delivered some fresh donuts to our doorstep one day, and they were incredible. They were freshly fried and it was just the best donuts I’ve ever tasted,” Susan said.
So they test-ran the donuts at the Parlee Beach location of their downtown beer garden Euston Park to great success. Allain was also selling the donuts at the Shediac Market, “and sold out every week,” Susan said.
“With Euston Park winding down for the season, we’re kind of ready for a new project. We were excited to partner up with Jacques, and we created Halo Donuts,” she added.
When it opens in early October, Halo Donuts will offer donuts that are freshly baked daily with a rotating menu and some basic coffee offerings.
“We will feature everything from a sour cream old fashioned to our take on the modern ‘Homer’ yeast-raised donut and everything in between with fun seasonal flavours,” said Susan. “We’ll have some really unique flavours that are a lot of fun.”
They’ll start with flavours like Glazed Sour Cream Old Fashioned, Strawberry Homer, Chocolate Dipped, Apple Fritters made with local apples and Maple Bacon donuts.
With a 500-square-foot shop, there will be no seating provided. The business will focus on donuts for pick up.
Susan says a business of this style works in a pandemic situation like today. The pop-up format also allows the Cormiers and Allain to test the market first.
“We eventually would like Halo to become a café. But we know now what people are interested in and it’s maybe not sitting inside right now. So for us, this made total sense having a retail outlet for people to be able to pick up and go,” she said.
The Cormiers brought their international experience when they returned to Gene’s home of Moncton and opened Euston Park, a beer garden in downtown Moncton, in May 2019. Shortly after, they opened casual fine-dining restaurant Clos on Main Street and ran the Parlee Beach branch of Euston Park this summer.