A Family Daydream

The Hive Donut Hut started with years of travel. In the shop's own telling, the founding mom and her husband Chris, together for 30 years, spent a lot of their trips exploring donut, coffee, and dessert shops, and began daydreaming about a welcoming place where customer service felt like "the good old days."

At the same time, their son Riley was going through his Red Seal chef training. Riley and Chris headed off to "Donut School," and because the family was born and raised in Langley and Aldergrove, they looked for a spot close to home. As Chris prepared to retire, mother and son took the reins, and the two now work together every day. Their stated hope is simple: a place to gather with friends and family over "donuts, coffee, smiles and laughter."

Donuts Made Every Morning

The donut case is sorted into a few families. Simple Pleasures are plain, glazed, or dusted in cinnamon sugar. Classics are ring donuts, dipped and sprinkled. Royals are filled, nutty, or dressed up with fancier toppings, and the large fruit-filled fritters are, the shop says, one of its best sellers. Donut Dots, the bite-sized holes, are sold individually or by the baker's dozen.

Everything is made fresh daily and does sometimes sell out. On days it doesn't, day-olds are sold the next day at a discount. The coffee bar covers drip coffee, espresso drinks hot or iced, hot chocolate, teas, and a London Fog made with earl grey, steamed milk, and a touch of vanilla.

Riley's Smash Burgers

Riley's chef training shows up at lunch. From Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., the kitchen serves smash burgers, led by Riley's Single Smash, a beef patty with bacon onion jam, cheese, signature burger sauce, and pickles.

The rest of the list gets more creative. The French Onion Dip burger comes with gruyere and Swiss cheese and a side of beef gravy, and the Good Morning Burger adds a fried egg and ranchero hollandaise. There is also a BCLT, a breakfast sandwich with a choice of bacon, beef patty, or potato ring, poutine, and loaded fries topped with all the fixings from any burger on the menu.

What Regulars Say

The Hive holds a 4.7-star Google rating across more than 575 reviews. Reviewers often point to the oversized apple fritters, the baker's dozen, and specialty donuts such as a Homer donut and a tiramisu donut, and the smash burgers have their own fans. Google's popular-times data shows Saturday morning, roughly 10 a.m. to noon, as the busiest stretch.

The shop also gives back. Its community page lists support for school breakfast programs, youth sports, Cops for Cancer, MS Canada, the Aldergrove Veterans & Seniors Society, the Langley Animal Protection Society, and the Crooked Spoon Foundation. From time to time, the owners bring out their Back to the Future DeLorean for people to see up close, take photos with, and even sit inside. Through the Aldergrove Business Association, the shop also takes part in neighbourhood events such as the annual trick-or-treating, Kids for Kindness, and Little Lemonade Legends.

Visit

The Hive Donut Hut is at 27253 Fraser Highway in Aldergrove. It opens at 7 a.m. Monday to Friday and 8 a.m. on weekends, and closes at 4 p.m. or when the donuts sell out, so earlier is better.

Check hivedonuthut.ca for current hours and online ordering, or call (604) 607-0817. Local groups can also submit donation requests through the website.