The team at California Donuts #21 in Koreatown makes over 1,000 heart-shaped donuts in the run-up to Valentine’s Day, and the fryer runs 24/7. “It’s crazy,” says owner and manager Danette Kuoch, as pastries shimmy in a vat of boiling oil.
Customers didn’t always expect Valentine-themed donuts. Her parents opened the business in 1982 and Kuoch joined in the early 2000s. After a while, the idea of cutout cookies inspired her to add heart-shaped donuts to the holiday menu, which felt at the time like a wild departure from classic circle and bar shapes. Her parents were skeptical. “They were like, ‘Why fix anything that isn't broken?’” says Kuoch.
But today the kitchen she and her sister run is proof that heart-shaped food has moved beyond lollipops and cookies, and customers are eager for it. At many local legacy businesses, like hers where kids and grandkids have taken over, marketing means social media, and social media on Valentine’s Day means heart-shaped treats.
In fact, Los Angeles may now be at peak heart-shaped food – hungry sweethearts can order heart-shaped conchas, mulitas, pupusas, and taco boxes. You can even have a heart-shaped steak dinner for two delivered to your door.
“It probably is oversaturated, to the point that if you don't do it, you look weird,” says Kara Nielsen, a Bay Area-based food and beverage trend expert.
California Donuts #21 serves a fresh batch of perky pink donuts. Photo by Megan Jamerson/KCRW.
While you can use cookie cutters to make a donut, the similarity ends there, says Steppie Kudo, Kuoch’s sister and co-owner of the shop. Cookies tend to keep the shape they are cut in as they bake, but donuts fluff up in the fryer and can change.
“We really have to test it out and see what works,” she says.
Since their first attempt at heart-shaped donuts was a hit with customers, the sisters now use every holiday to get creative, like googly-eyed monsters for Halloween and Star Wars characters for May 4, an unofficial day of celebration for the franchise. She believes it helps them stand out in LA’s crowded desert scene. The holidays have “become our thing,” she says.
Customers now expect seasonal menu items for the holidays, and the heart shape around Valentine’s Day is a given, says Nielsen. One of the earliest examples goes back to the late 1800s when Cadbury created the heart-shaped chocolate box. Many generations later, social media and the need for things to be visually appealing means “there's a lot of pressure on companies to participate,” says Nielsen.
Even pizza dares to look delicious in a heart shape. This one’s from Mickey’s Deli in Hermosa Beach. Photo by Megan Jamerson/KCRW.
Catching onto a trend can instantly boost business. That was the experience of Mickey Mance, the owner of Mickey’s Deli in Hermosa Beach. His grandfather opened the Italian sandwich and pizza place in 1953, and Mance’s father ran the store before him.
Mance decided five years ago to post online that they were making heart-shaped pizzas for Valentine’s Day. By 4:30 p.m. on the holiday, he was standing in the kitchen holding at least 50 tickets in his hand, and the printer kept spitting out more.
“I was looking at everybody like I don't know what we're going to do,” remembers Mance.
The festive pizzas take more work for the kitchen staff to make, and that first year, he recalls, they were baking all night. Now Mance plans ahead. The week before the holiday, the kitchen staff parbakes crusts and then slices them into hearts to save time when orders come in. They expect to make around 300 this year.
He says Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to connect with the community that has supported the business for 70 years. And savvy young business owners like him know if food is tasty and photo-worthy, people will keep coming back.
“It's fun for people,” says Mance. “It gives them something special and a way to use a place like Mickey's where they have a lot of memories.”