Miami transplants are celebrating now that The Salty Donut is officially open in Denver. Helmed by married couple Amanda Pizarro and Andy Rodriguez, the Salty started out as a pop-up inside a 1950s vintage Aljoa camper in a parking lot back in 2014. While the duo grew up around chains like Dunkin’ and Krispy Kreme, after traveling across the country they started to notice specialty doughnut shops opening in other states. So, they decided to start their own version.
Today, Salty has grown to 15 locations and counting throughout the Southeast, with its new Colorado shop marking its first outpost in the Western United States.
“We came to Denver a bunch before deciding to open a Salty here. Denver has always been a culinary-forward city and we thought the people would really understand our concept,” said Rodriguez. “We fell in love with the Tennyson area because it’s very on brand for us — it’s walkable, cute and quaint, but also has some strong retail traction — so it felt right.”
Since this will be the company’s flagship store in Denver, Pizarro said “it has a huge kitchen with a big window so people can see what’s going on back there. And it has a very natural feel with earthy elements like rope, leather and brick. We try to match the design of each store to accentuate what the city is about.”
The Miami-based Salty Donut chain opened a location on Denver’s Tennyson street in Sept. 2024. (Provided by Salty Donut)
Seasonal ingredients and pop culture trends also influence the ever-rotating menu. Crowd favorites include a traditional glazed and a brown-butter-and-salt doughnut alongside more creative concoctions like the Honey Butter Cinna-Bun Donut.
“Everything in the store is homemade, which is a huge difference compared to nearly every other doughnut place out there. We never use pre-made glazes or jams. So, for example, if you see salted caramel in one of our items we literally made that salted caramel,” explained Rodriguez.
The doughnut dough itself is also paramount to Salty’s success. “Most doughnut shops out there use quick mix doughnuts. Our doughnuts use a brioche-based dough with European high-butterfat butter and egg. It’s a process that takes upward of an entire day that you need to make and then bulk ferment so the dough gets the right texture and flavor,” Rodriguez said.
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In addition to doughnuts and coffee, which come from Intelligentsia in Chicago, Salty will pilot a new line of laminated pastries only available at the Denver store. They include the Everything and Cream Cheese “Cragle” (a mix between a croissant and a bagel) and a PB&J Croissant.
But where does the name come from? “We get joked on by our family a lot because Amanda and I put salt on literally everything we cook,” Rodriguez said.
“For our doughnuts, we always add some kind of salt component so they don’t feel too weighed down, sweet and bland. It might be a salty crumble or sea salt on top of something. We want to make sure we have a defined balance of textures between crunchy, soft and gooey,” he added.
The Salty Donut is located at 3985 Tennyson St., Suite 100. Hours of operation are Sunday-Thursday, from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Friday-Saturday, from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.