This fast-growing doughnut/coffee shop chain is coming soon to Okatie. Here are the details
Parlor Doughnuts, a craft doughnut and coffee chain with shops sprinkled across the country including a growing footprint in South Carolina, is opening its first shop in Beaufort County — and it’s just getting started in the Lowcountry.
Lee and Amanda Hicks of Beaufort are franchisees for the Parlor Doughnuts whose territory includes Beaufort, Hilton Head and Savannah. The couple plans to open the first of at least three shops it is planning in the Beaufort-Hilton Head-Savannah region during the first quarter of 2025. That shop will be located in Okatie Center at 201 Okatie Village Drive, across from the road from the Food Lion and right next to Sun City.
The Okatie location will mark Parlor Doughnuts’ first location in Beaufort County and its third in South Carolina. The existing shops are in Greenville and Pawleys Island. Additional shops are planned in Johns Island and Summerville.
Parlor’s doughnuts are different and so is the atmosphere of the shops.
Parlor is known for its famous “layered doughnuts” with layers of buttery dough fried to a crisp on the outside but light and fluffy on the inside, and more than 20 toppings.
“It’s really a different doughnut,” Lee Hicks says.
More than 20 toppings range from maple bacon to bourbon caramel to honey glazed to Hicks’ favorite “chocolate chocolate.” “The toppings,” Hicks says, “are amazing.”
The shops are different, too. The Parlor name comes from the well-furnished “parlor” rooms in many 1900s Victorian homes where people received guests and talked. Parlor describes its shops as “a vintage American space that feels like a ‘parlor’ but with a modern twist.”
Besides layered doughnuts, specialty coffee and and artisanal breakfast treats, the menu will include various vegan, gluten and keto-diet friendly options.
Parlor started in Evansville, Indiana, in 2019 when Darrick Hayden, his son Noah, and restaurateur Josh Tudela combined a passion for high-quality doughnuts and specialty coffee. Parlor now operates 59 shops in 14 states and has been approved to franchise in all 50 states.
The Okatie shop is under construction, Lee Hicks said, and “it’s moving forward pretty quickly.”
The couple moved to Beaufort in June 2023 specifically to open at least three new doughnut shops in the region.
“I think it will be a big hit,” said Hicks, who grew up in Greenville. “They have a great brand, great product. They do extremely well in coastal communities.”
Lee and Amanda, Georgia residents at the time, were introduced to Parlor doughnuts while vacationing in South Carolina at Pawleys Island, which is 23 miles south of Myrtle Beach. They were looking for a career change and contacted Parlor Doughnuts and learned that the Beaufort-Hilton Head-Savannah territory was one of the last remaining markets left for franchises in South Carolina. The couple decided to go for it. “We thought it was a great market,” Hicks said.
This story was originally published December 5, 2024 at 11:26 AM.
