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Fort Lauderdale’s new Pink Love Donuts & More is expanding through South Florida with new locations popping up in Miami Beach, Aventura and beyond. The thriving family-run bakeshop serves made-from-scratch gourmet donuts (including vegan options) artisanal croissants, Argentine empanadas, and donuts shaped into letters of the alphabet to spell out custom messages such as “Happy Birthday”, “I Love You” and more.
With its cheery rainbow-colored décor, the sensual aromas of melted chocolate, and the rows upon rows of mouthwatering baked goods, Pink Love Donuts & More is not your typical Donut Shop. The Oakland Park bakery (formerly Pink Donuts & More) opened on National Donut Day and has already garnered a cult-like following.
With the glimmer of an idea in mind, Macedo, his wife, and their two sons set out on a road trip up the East Coast, stopping at 30 to 40 different bakeries between Miami and New York. Taking notes on their favorite flavors, concepts, and more, they returned to Miami and got to work. Shortly thereafter, a new local donut craze was born.
When it comes to donuts, Macedo believes there’s no such thing as having too many flavors. The bakery currently has more than 80 different varieties in rotation, from Classic Donuts ($1.75 each) such as Strawberry Frosting and Raspberry Jelly to Gourmet Donuts ($3.25 each) such as Bacon Sriracha, Dulce de Leche, Nutella, and Tres Leches, which are some of the most popular.
Five or six new flavors of Special Donuts ($2.25 each), which often feature seasonal themes or unexpected ingredients (think: Lucky Charms and Froot Loops), are rotated into the mix each month. “Sometimes we will keep one that is a top seller on the menu permanently,” Macedo said. “Tiramisu is a current special that is popular.”
There are even Ultimate Donuts ($3.95 each), a designation reserved for the most decadent flavors, such as Apple Streusel & Dulce de Leche and the Pizza Donut. And let’s not forget about the Drunken Donuts ($4.95 each), which each come with a miniature pipette of Malibu Rum, Baileys Irish Cream, or Kahlúa meant to be injected into the core of the donut. Letter-shaped donuts ($3 each), which can be customized to spell out messages like Happy Birthday, are also available to order.
Donuts aren’t Pink Love Donuts & More’s only specialty. The bakery is also known for its Artisan Croissants ($3.50-$5), which come in a variety of classic and gourmet flavors, and the customer-favorite Argentine Empanadas ($2.75 each; $28 for a dozen), a carryover item from the steakhouse. Macedo uses his family recipe to craft traditional empanada flavors like Beef, Chicken, and Ham & Cheese, plus a handful of American-inspired varieties like Buffalo Chicken, BBQ Chicken, Caprese, Bacon Cheeseburger, and Malbec. The bakery also serves Breakfast Burritos ($4.99) and breakfast Biscuit Sandwiches ($4.99), plus beverages such as local coffee, Italian espresso, specialty coffee drinks, and fresh-squeezed orange juice.
Pink Love Donuts & More also offers a wide selection of vegan-friendly options. Anywhere between 15 and 25 flavors of Vegan Donuts ($2.95-$3.55), which are baked as squares rather than circles for easy identification, are offered daily. Vegan Croissants ($4.50-$5.50 each), Vegan Quiche ($4.99), and vegan Monkey Bread ($3.99) are also available.
All donuts, croissants, empanadas, and other baked goods are made in-house, from scratch, daily. The baking process begins at 10 p.m. the evening before, when the baker starts the donut preparation. Macedo arrives around 3 a.m. to prepare the croissants and empanadas so that the shop is ready to open by 7:00 a.m. The bakery is open daily until 4 p.m. (unless they sell out before then, which they often do).
To meet the increasing demand, the 900-square-foot shop in Oakland Park expanded into the rented space next door. Macedo is also preparing to open a Pink Love Donuts & More location at 67th Street and Collins Avenue in Miami Beach before the end of the year. He has plans to open a few other Florida locations, including Aventura and Orlando, before he looks at franchising.
For more information, visit www.pinklovedonutsandmore.com or follow @pinklovedonutsandmore on Instagram or @pinklovedonutsandmore on Facebook.
