Donut Love founders opening 1950s diner on wheels in downtown Exeter
EXETER — The founders of Donut Love have a new venture serving food in the Seacoast, this time in a 1950s-style diner on wheels.
The Jukebox Diner will soon be parked next to the bandstand in downtown Exeter, serving burgers, fries, grilled cheese, milkshakes and soda floats. It’s a project owners Mike and Stephanie Oliveira say comes from their love of 1950s nostalgia.
The Oliveiras, who sold Donut Love and Comfort Baking Company in 2022, announced their new venture on social media last week. They said they have been taking time for family since the sale and brainstorming their next idea.
The diner-on-wheels will open by mid-April, Monday through Saturday, with an 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. lunch and a 5 to 8 p.m. dinner. Mike Oliveira said he is excited to get started, saying his experience with Donut Love gives him new confidence in opening a food business.
“It feels really good this time,” Oliveira said. “It feels like it’s on my terms.”
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The Oliveiras have worked in food since 2017, when Mike Oliveira left his job as a Stratham police officer in search of a new career. The couple started Donut Love in 2017 in North Hampton in honor of Mike Oliveira’s mother, who raised him nearby.
The Oliveiras opened two more stores in Exeter — a second Donut Love downtown and Comfort Baking Company on Route 33. They sold Donut Love and Comfort Baking to Goodwin Family Management in 2022, saying, at the time, they needed to focus on family.
“It was much needed for us to reset, re-calibrate, soul search, and dream again,” Stephanie Oliveira said in her Facebook post. “We were able to focus on our family, mental health, and marriage in ways that just weren't doable while running three brick-and-mortar shops.”
Since then, the Oliveiras say they have regrouped and found the inspiration for their next food project in their love of diners of yesteryear. Mike Oliveira said he has always appreciated the presentation of 1950s diners, from the neon lighting to the clothing staff wear.
“It’s more of an experience,” he said.
The Oliveiras said they wanted to find a new business that worked better for their family. Mike Oliveira said they were feeling the strain of running three stores and a food truck seemed like a better option for a family with children.
The truck, outfitted with the appearance of a diner, will operate walk-up style with food handed out from a window. The menu will feature floats, including Coca-Cola, root beer and orange cream. Music will also be played from the 1950s — a favorite of the Oliveiras.
“We love that era,” Mike Oliveira said. “We kind of joke all the time, we should have been born during those times.”
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Jukebox Diner exciting new chapter for Oliveiras
Mike Oliveira said he often gets asked when he and his wife will return with a new food venture. He said he looks forward to serving the Seacoast again, as well as returning to Exeter.
“We’ve always had a wonderful experience with all the powers that be in Exeter,” Mike Oliveira said. “They were over the moon to have us back.”
Mike Oliviera said the project is also special because it is inspired by his marriage. Donut Love was an homage to his mother, who always wanted the family to run a business together. The Jukebox Diner is something he and his wife thought of together.
“The DL project was awesome, a great opportunity for me to kind of live out my mom’s thing,” Mike Oliveira said. “This is Steph’s and I’s thing.”
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This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Donut Love founders opening 1950s Jukebox Diner food truck in Exeter
