Find an article about the opening of Zombie here: http://www.onlineathens.com/mobile/2016-01-27/zombie-coffee-and-donuts-opening-downtown-athens
It didn’t take long to fill the space on East Broad Street previously housed Your Pie.
The new-to-Athens shop Zombie Coffee and Donuts is planning to open there at the end of March.
Tony Raffa, the owner of the new store, opened the first location of the doughnut shop in Washington, D.C. last year with three other people.
Raffa, who is a University of Georgia business student, said he always wanted to open the shop in Athens, so he’s making it happen.
“I really advocated for Athens from the beginning, and we’ve been looking at spaces. This one was just perfect. It’s close to campus, but it’s still in downtown,” Raffa said.
Zombie offers coffee and doughnuts made fresh to order.
“The whole mentality of everything we do is have it your way,” Raffa said.
The restaurant will be set up similar to a frozen yogurt shop. Doughnuts will be made fresh, and customers can choose their own toppings.
“The conveyor belt is running all day long. We run it about 10 to 20 minutes. You get to see your doughnut coming out and the person pulling it out and then you tell them what you want on it,” Raffa said.
Toppings range from the usual glazes and sugar powders to specialty items like cookies and other foods.
“The most popular toppings are the more obscure ones. One popular combination is maple glaze with fried bacon, which are pieces of bacon we cook there in the shop,” Raffa said.
Zombie will also serve coffee that customers can choose to top any way they want, or they can order a specialty drink from baristas.
The breakfast food shop will be open at 7 a.m. and stay open for the late night crowds until around 2 a.m. They will also deliver doughnuts around town, Raffa said.
Raffa said he was 19 when he began planning the opening of the first Zombie store in Washington, D.C., his hometown. Now, he’s planning to graduate from UGA in May, and he’s opening the store he always wanted in Athens.
To show his appreciation to the city, Raffa plans to donate some of the shop’s proceeds to local charities.
“We want to give a percentage of profits to the city and school district, but we’re going to let customers vote on where they want the donations to go so they can be involved too,” Raffa said.
Follow reporter Hilary Butschek on Twitter @hilarylbutschek or at https://www.facebook.com/hbutschek
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