Shipley Do-Nuts has signed a three-unit franchise agreement covering Cincinnati, marking the Houston-based donut chain's first push into Ohio. The deal was struck with Koelache Co. LLC, a group led by Houston entrepreneurs Don and Kat Koetting alongside Don's parents, Fred and Lisa Koetting.
The first Cincinnati location is scheduled to open in Q1 2027, with the remaining two units expected to come online through 2029. For equipment dealers and kitchen consultants active in the Ohio market, the build-out pipeline represents three new commissary-style donut production kitchens that will require commercial fryers, proofing equipment, display cases, and fresh-brew coffee systems consistent with Shipley's made-daily scratch production model.
Shipley positions itself as the nation's largest brand of fresh, handmade-daily donuts, kolaches, and coffee — a format that places heavier continuous-production demands on cooking equipment than thaw-and-serve competitors. Each unit is expected to operate high-volume frying and dough-handling lines during overnight and early-morning production windows, a spec consideration for ventilation loads and hood sizing that consultants will need to account for in the Cincinnati builds.
The Midwest expansion also follows broader dealer-channel interest in fast-casual breakfast and bakery concepts, which have driven investment in compact, high-throughput fry lines and integrated warmer-and-display configurations. Shipley's kolache program adds a baked-goods production element alongside the fried donut line, potentially requiring separate deck or convection oven capacity in each unit's back-of-house layout.
With three units confirmed and a multi-year opening schedule, Ohio-area rep groups and equipment distributors have a defined window to engage the franchisee group ahead of the Q1 2027 first opening.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.