Union Square is about to get its first taste of Portland's most famous doughnut export. Voodoo Doughnut will open its first New York City shop at 41 Union Square West, near East 17th Street, on November 19, serving up its signature yeast, cake, and vegan doughnuts with late-night hours.
According to Eater New York, regular hours at the new shop will run from 6 a.m. to 3 a.m., though the doors will open a bit later, at 8 a.m., for the first day of service. Voodoo's original Portland shop was a 24-hour doughnut shop.
Opening day comes with some built-in incentives for anyone willing to brave the line. The first 100 customers who make a purchase will walk away with a free monogrammed Voodoo Doll doughnut, the shop's raspberry jelly-filled, effigy-shaped signature item dipped in chocolate and topped with a pretzel stake. The first 500 people to buy something will also score a free tote bag stuffed with swag.
A Menu Built for Shock Value and Sugar Cravings
Beyond the classics, the Union Square menu leans into the brand's novelty reputation. Shoppers can expect a bacon-maple bar topped with maple frosting and bacon strips, the joint-shaped Maple Blazer Blunt, and the cereal-crusted Berry Crunch Oh Captain, My Captain. There's also the Glazed Glizzy, a hot dog tucked inside a glazed doughnut bun and finished with maple frosting, which Eater says will be available only on opening day.
Less ambiguous is the Big Apple, a sweet apple-filled doughnut with cinnamon-vanilla frosting that the same Eater report says will be sold through December 9. Partial proceeds from Big Apple sales, along with 10 percent of all opening-day proceeds, will go to City Harvest, the city's food-rescue nonprofit.
A Portland Touch, Right Down to the Wall Art
Every Voodoo Doughnut location carries its own velvet painting, a quirky bit of branding tradition from the chain's Pacific Northwest roots. New York's version depicts the late chef and television host Anthony Bourdain, created by Portland artist Juanita — a nod, perhaps, to a city that treated him like one of its own.
Voodoo Doughnut's path to a Union Square storefront has been a long one. The chain began expanding locally in Portland in 2008 before migrating out of state to Colorado five years later, according to Grub Street. In 2017, the private equity firm Fundamental Capital took a majority stake in the company. The New York Daily News reported last year that Voodoo Doughnut had locations in Chicago, Miami, Austin, and Los Angeles, as The New York Daily News reported last year.
Joining an Already Crowded Doughnut Scene
Voodoo isn't arriving to an empty field. Eater describes New York City's out-of-town doughnut shop scene as having been blossoming over the past couple of years, pointing to Tokyo's I'm donut?, Los Angeles's Randy's Donuts, and Montreal's Homie's Donuts as other transplants already competing for the city's attention. Grub Street separately frames the moment as something of a doughnut heyday for the city, with homegrown names like Cloudy Donut Co., Elbow Bakery, and Fan-Fan rounding out a crowded field alongside Tokyo import I'm Donut?
Ahead of the opening, Voodoo Doughnut used its social media to let fans weigh in on the new shop's exclusive flavor. In a post on X earlier this year, the company wrote: “New York, we need your vote! As we get closer to opening the new Union Square shop, we're want YOU to decide which exclusive doughnut should make its debut in NYC. Only one will win, and it'll be served starting on opening day for a limited time!” Whichever doughnut New Yorkers chose, the bigger story on November 19 will be whether Union Square's newest 3 a.m. pit stop can hold its own against a city that already takes its doughnuts seriously.
