The story of The Donut Haus began more than 3 decades ago in Estes Park, Colorado where German baker, Dieter D’Alquen, started making donuts in an old gas station. His donuts were so fresh, light, and delicious, people from all over the country (and even the world) lined up outside the door, including Estes business owner, Lois Marth.

After helping D’Alquen bake a night for many years (while running her own business during the day), Lois purchased The Donut Haus in 1997. Shortly after, Mary Ann joined the team after giving up her career as an Anthropologist. Mary Ann loved baking and believed she might want to own a bakery one day (careful what you wish for!). She also likes to joke that she had to support her donut addiction somehow! 

In 2003, Lois and Mary Ann opened The Donut Haus in Loveland with only their four hands, one rolling pin, a large mixer, and a fryer. For while, they made donuts for both locations until 2008, when they sold the Estes Park store.

Today, you find Lois and Mary Ann at their “haus” in Orchards Shopping Center where they serve fresh handmade donuts, cakes, brownies, breakfast burritos, and more. They often work all night to ensure their products are of the highest-caliber, because their customers aren’t just customers, they’re family!

  • Here at The Donut Haus, we bake 3-4 THOUSAND donuts a day! That’s around 1.25 millions donuts a year!
  • To make all those donuts, we make around 2 tons of dough a week – that’s 105 tons a year!
  • We make 20 gallons of glaze a day!
  • Martha Stewart once said you know you’ve found a good donut shop when you order a plain cake donut, no glaze, and it’s good! We take that seriously.
  • Everyone has their favorite donut, including our owners! Lois has 2 favorite donuts:  the buttermilk cake donuts and our date nut roll (like a cinnamon roll with diced up dates and pecans).  Mary Ann also has 2 favorites: our cinnamon twist and crumb donuts!
  • We make everything fresh from scratch — our donuts, cakes, pies… everything!