Specialty doughnut shop opens in Monument Square with 400 giveaways

Ari Modugno and Melissa Selvon hadn’t slept in two days, but they woke up Thursday morning and made more than 400 doughnuts. Then they gave them all away.

Modugno and Selvon are the owners of HiFi Donuts, the shop that opened Thursday in Portland’s Monument Square, in the site previously occupied by Hero, a sandwich shop.

Casey Kelley works behind the counter Friday morning at HiFi Donuts. Staff photo by Julia McCue

Modugno is a Portland resident and Selvon is a recent transplant. The couple met when they were managers at the Dandee Donut Factory, which has several locations in Massachusetts and Florida. They fell in love and decided to open their own shop together.

Modugno said HiFi sells three kinds of doughnuts: French crullers; Biere, a yeast-raised doughnut made with a sourdough starter “which is something she and I invented together;” and Sour Cream Cake, which he described as “a traditional, old-fashioned doughnut.”

“It’s very rich and moist,” he said, “and it’s very crackly and crunchy on the outside.”

The doughnuts sell for $2 apiece, or three plus a coffee for $6. Seven doughnuts cost $11, and a baker’s dozen goes for $22.

HiFi also sells coffee, chai, tea and hot chocolate. Modugno said they spent months researching coffee beans and decided to sell a Colombian mild- to medium-roast from George Howell, one of the pioneers of specialty coffee in the United States, based in Acton, Massachusetts.

“We also do an espresso roast through him, which is more medium-bodied,” Modugno said. “He buys straight from the farm, and he micro roasts in Massachusetts and has very limited distribution. We might be the first shop in Portland with George Howell.”

HiFi is open 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday at 30 City Center.

Meredith Goad can be contacted at 791-6332 or at:

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