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FEBRUARY 23, 2016

BOSTON GLOBE

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Kanes’ Jumbo Doughnuts Land in Chestnut Hill

Jon Chesto reviews the Kanes Donuts pop-up at The Street

The Delios family got a taste of success last March when they opened up their second Kane’s doughnut shop, in the Financial District. Now, they’re hunting for more locations in Greater Boston to sell their honey-dipped treats.

 

Doughnut fans west of Boston will be the first beneficiaries: Kane’s is opening a 400-square-foot temporary store at The Street, off Route 9 in Chestnut Hill. It will open on Wednesday and be there for a month.

 

Co-owner and president Paul Delios said he wants to find a more permanent location to expand the brand beyond its Saugus home base, to offer more commuters the opportunity to indulge in the Kane’s sugar high. He hopes to pick the next location by the end of the year.

 

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to put something together this year,” Delios said. “Instead of having a pop-up, we’d love to see a few more of these [permanent stores] in the area.”

 

The pop-up store came about in part because WS Development originally approached Kane’s about opening at the developer’s MarketStreet lifestyle center in Lynnfield a few years ago. The time wasn’t right for that, Delios said, but the Kane’s owners and WS stayed in touch. WS came back to Kane’s when a pop-up space at The Street opened up.

 

“We’re very grateful for the folks at WS to allow us the opportunity to test the waters this far away from the Boston store,” Delios said.

 

It’s likely that Kane’s would bring in outside investors to open its next store, like it did with the first Kane’s shop in downtown Boston. Delios said he owns the original Kane’s store in Saugus with his siblings, and relied on a few other local investors to help finance the second store, the one in Boston’s International Place.

 

These doughnuts don’t come cheap, as Kane’s fans already know. They typically sell for more than $3 apiece. Delios said the price is largely due to the gourmet ingredients, such as locally produced honey and blueberries from Maine.

 

“We’re not going to produce cardboard and charge 80 cents a doughnut,” Delios said. “We’re going to charge what we have to charge and use the best quality ingredients that are available.”

 

Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jonchesto.

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