Valentine’s Day was extra sweet in Eagle this year with the much-anticipated opening of a new Sweet Coloradough location Tuesday on Chambers Avenue.

The Eagle community showed a ravenous appetite for the shop’s handmade, award-winning donuts, buying up all 1,000 donuts within an hour of the store’s 7 a.m. opening. Owner Aaron Badolato said that the response has been par-for-the-course for the local brand, which sold out of 3,500 donuts in just over two hours when its first location opened in Glenwood Springs in 2014.

On Thursday, the shop doubled the number of donuts and sold out before 9 a.m. Badolato said that he wants to increase production numbers to meet the high demand but is currently limited by staffing shortages. Sweet Coloradough is hiring for two bakers and two front-of-house positions, seeking experienced workers in both roles.

The store will be open three days a week, from 7 a.m. to sell out on Tuesdays and Thursdays and from 8 a.m. to sell out on Sundays. The shop will also begin serving one-pound breakfast burritos starting Tuesday, Feb. 21.

All of the donuts are hand-rolled, flavored, filled and decorated, so finding bakers and a production system to match demand is a developing process.

“We will work through some kinks and labor issues, but the sweet, hot action will be in full force,” Badolato shared in a Facebook post on Tuesday. “Come enjoy a smile.”

Badolato and his wife, Anne, founded Sweet Coloradough in 2014 and have since expanded to Rifle in 2019 and now to Eagle. The appetite for their donuts in the mountains has proven to be insatiable, and they are looking for more opportunities to expand and potentially franchise their model in the near future.

“Growing up, I would explore the Vail Valley mountains, so there’s obviously a history and a love for the whole scene in this valley,” Badolato said. “I’m just glad to be a part of that community again and looking forward to a prosperous future and being able to work our way towards Vail and Silverthorne as time progresses.”

Customers are invited to pre-order donuts ahead of time in order to ensure that they get their fix. To view the menu of available donuts, visit SweetColoradough.com and email sweetcoloradough@gmail.com with your order. Those interested in applying for open positions can reach out to the same email address.

This story is from VailDaily.com.