Pastry shop brings ‘Texas-style’ doughnuts to shopping mall north of Gig Harbor
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- Lone Star Donuts opened third location at Town Square Port Orchard mall.
- Shop sells large handmade Texas-style doughnuts, kolaches and fritters.
- 20% discount offered Oct 24-31 for military and government employees.
Lone Star Donuts recently opened their third location at the Town Square Port Orchard shopping mall, bringing big “Texas-style” doughnuts to more customers north of Gig Harbor.
The new location is in Suite 148 of the shopping center near Harbor Haute Dogs. Town Square Port Orchard is located at 1700 SE Mile Hill Drive.
In a phone call Friday, Lone Star Donuts manager Omar Santiago explained that their “Texas-style” doughnuts are bigger than your typical doughnut and are made completely by hand, icing included. The shop also sells other baked goods and kolaches, soft fruit-filled pastries that originated from Czech immigrants and are now popular for breakfast in Texas, reports Southern Living.
Their giant apple fritters are especially popular, said Santiago. Each fritter is made by hand like their other doughnuts and have real chopped apples inside.
Other flavors include pistachio, pina colada, pumpkin spice and other seasonal flavors like mango in the summer, he said.
Lone Star Donuts is offering a special 20% discount from Oct. 24-31 for military and government employees affected by the federal government shutdown.
Santiago said he was the one to convince his parents to move from Texas to Washington about five years ago and help him open a doughnut shop, seeing a lack of “good doughnut shops around here.”
“ ... we took a little bit of what we knew and we gave it a little twist” to craft their different doughnuts, he said.
Santiago credited the business’ success in large part to his parents’ help and knowledge. His mother, for example, designs the doughnuts and “is the main person in the back that makes sure everything comes out the way it’s supposed to be,” he said.
After a few weeks in 2021 of making doughnuts in a restaurant owned by his former employer, who allowed them to use the restaurant’s kitchen, Santiago and his parents eventually opened their first Lone Star Donuts location in Silverdale in 2022. They opened a second Port Orchard location in 2023.
It wasn’t easy to open their third location in Town Square, he said, noting the challenges they faced as a small business understanding the permitting requirements and regulations and working with the city on what is allowed. It took them a year and a half to open in Town Square, he said.
The News Tribune reached out to the South Kitsap Chamber of Commerce to ask about the regulatory environment for small business in Port Orchard.
“We’re aware that the permitting process in Port Orchard, and even outside city limits within (Kitsap) County-controlled areas, has been a point of frustration for some business owners, and we’ve been in ongoing communication with our members and incoming businesses regarding these concerns,” Jaclyn Williams, the Chamber’s executive director, wrote via email.
“At the Chamber, our role is to help bridge the communication between businesses and the relevant licensing entities. We regularly assist business owners by connecting them with the right contacts, and we remain committed to advocating for clearer, more efficient processes that make it easier to start and grow a business here in South Kitsap.”
She added that the Chamber looks forward to continued collaboration with the city and county to maintain a welcoming environment for entrepreneurs.
Santiago expressed gratitude as he reflected on how far the business has come. The family started with very little and was able to build the business, he said.
“The community has been really, really good to us, and thank God that everything worked out and we are able to make enough money and sell enough doughnuts to be able to open this location in Port Orchard and Town Square,” Santiago said.
Beginning this week, open hours at Lone Star Donuts at Town Square will be 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
This story was originally published October 26, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
