Williamstown Doughnut Striving for Laid-Back Vibe, Weed Humor
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Logan Maestri's has been working the last two years to bring the vision of his doughnut shop, Maestri's Munchies, to life.
He wanted to create something that would make his daughters proud.
"I definitely left a piece of me here and I hope people can recognize that. This truly is like my right hand or my left hand or something. It's a piece of me. That's really what I wanted. I'm not from here and Williamstown is an interesting path and I wanted my kids to feel like they had a name in this town," Maestri said last in his bakery in the Colonial Shopping Center.
"And that's one of the reasons why I chose my last name — despite people's ability to pronounce it. It's for my daughters to really be a staple of this town and for people to know their name and for them to be proud of their father."
Maestri moved to the Berkshires 15 years ago after serving in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2005 and 2006 with the Marines. He's been on permanent disability and a stay-at-home dad.
The fact that his kids can now tell people that their father is a restaurateur really makes "his heart happy."
Maestri had started to ask himself what it was he wanted to do with his life and he began to assess who he was and what Williamstown was missing.
What he discovered was that he did not like the commercialized atmosphere of chain coffee and doughnut shops. So he wanted to create a more welcoming space.
What he came up with is a "classic stoner vibe" and a place to get munchies right next to Silver Therapeutics, a cannabis dispensary.
"After I got out of the Marine Corps, medical marijuana really helped me on a personal level and so I'm a big proponent of medical marijuana. I see marijuana users as like my people," Maestri said.
One of his creations is a "doughnugs," doughnut and cereal holes coated in green chocolate and covered in coarse sugar so they look like little bits of weed. He's selling them in Mylar bags by the ounce.
He also plans to sell sandwiches and ice creams, but not until the coffee and doughnut service is up to par, Maestri said.
"I think it's important that whatever we're doing, we do to the absolute best of our ability, 100 percent. It's like the Marine me. In the Marine Corps, we have a saying, 'keep it simple, stupid,' and that's my plan out of the gate," he said.
Although he enjoys cannabis, Maestri has no interest in entering the industry, feeling it's not achievable here without big money backing you.
"I want to be around the cannabis industry. I just don't want to be in it. So that's us," he said. "We're an over-the-top doughnut dessert spot next to a dispensary. Couldn't be any more poetic than that."
It also brings some humor into the shop's theme, he said.
"It's the vibe, you come in and the energy is good and it's kind of a joke too, like … I have a 2016 police SUV with the doughnut logo on the side of it and it says 'doughnut' patrol on it," he said.
"It's to catch people's eyes and [encourage them] to come in and kind of get it. It's like, 'oh, yeah, I get it, it's right next to the dispensary. It's funny,' but once you come in, you're like, 'Oh man, I get it and I like it.'"
He hopes to get a mascot and drive the SUV in local parades and hand out doughnugs.
The space also destigmatizes marajuana usage, Maestri said. And every aspect of the decor, from the three-dimensional art to the Sisyphus kinetic art coffee table, was strategically picked.
"The process was twice as expensive as I thought it would be. It took twice as long and I think that's the case for a lot of people. And I think that people make concessions in order to get over the finish line," Maestri said.
"Like, I bought the table before I did anything else because I knew when I got to the end of the project if I hadn't bought it, that I wouldn't be able to justify spending the money on it. But this table and these tiles and this wall are all what make the donut shop special. I think people try to create these places and that's what it misses is the atmosphere."
Local musicians are encouraged to bring in CDs of their music; if Maestri likes them, he'll play them and sell them at the shop.
Maestri said he has made a lot of friends and learned a lot about himself, the community, and the industry throughout this project.
He hopes to have a soft opening early next month and a grand opening on April 20 (420 Day).
More information on the donut shop here.
Tags: new business, doughnuts,
