The entrepreneur who helped turn Top Pot into the largest scale doughnut operation in the city is, indeed, getting back into the fried dough business with a new small batch shop on Capitol Hill.

Half and Half Doughnut Co. — or, Half n Half as it appears on the signage — is being readied to open on E Pike with daily small batch doughnuts made in house and coffee and lattes to go. Half and Half will  offer filled raised varieties and cake doughnuts along with “savory options,” according to Jeanine Sbisa, director of operations.

Half and Half will open in July, Sbisa said.

Hours are planned as 6 AM to 2:00 PM daily.

The man at the middle of it all is Michael Klebeck. He and his brother Mark launched a doughnut empire in February 2002 in “a small brick storefront on north Capitol Hill in Seattle.” You know it as the Top Pot shop at 609 Summit Ave E.

The new project is unrelated to Top Pot, Sbisa said.

Half and Half will make its home in the building where Klebeck’s Sun Liquor Distillery was located before moving off the Hill. East Trading Co. has since moved into the space and will neighbor the new doughnut shop. CHS first reported on plans for an unnamed doughnut shop in the space way back in 2017.

Half and Half joins a robust Capitol Hill doughnut economy. In addition to the original Top Pot, Capitol Hill is home to a Mighty-O at 12th and Madison and just down Union, Renee Erickson has cornered the Capitol Hill market on cream-filled luxury doughnuts at General Porpoise. In the Central District, small batch Raised Doughnuts opened on 23rd Ave last June.

E Pike will also be a lot sweeter this summer. CHS reported this week that The Cookie Counter will open its new location with vegan ice cream sandwiches inside Gay City just in time for Pride.

Half and Half Doughnut Co. is slated to open at 516 E Pike in July. UPDATE: Mid-August :)

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