Provided by Outcast Doughnuts
Two weeks after closing its doors in downtown Mesa, Outcast Doughnuts will serve its layered croissant-doughnuts, breakfast sandwiches and coffee drinks in a new corner of the Valley. The popular bakery will debut a drive-thru in Scottsdale on Saturday.
The Outcast team spent about a year renovating a former Whataburger near the northeast corner of Hayden and Thomas roads.
“It’s definitely got its quirks, so it wasn’t a typical project,” co-owner TJ Tillman says. “It’s been a challenge, but I think it’s going to be a good area for us.”
The building, now painted black and white, has the burger chain’s signature steeply pitched roof, which sits atop the building like a 10-gallon hat. Now the Outcast sign, with its hot pink doughnut logo, stares out at Hayden Road.
Unlike the bake shop’s original location, which opened in downtown Mesa in 2023, customers won’t go inside to get some of Outcast’s 16 signature flaky doughnuts. Instead, they’ll order at a drive-thru window. Since the pandemic, Tillman has seen more people interested in the on-the-go format and says he wants to elevate the quality of both the food and coffee drinks served through a pickup window.
“We’re going to bring a higher level to (the drive-thru) and have it just as efficient as what you could get anywhere else,” Tillman says. “There’s been a big demand.”
The new location is just the start of plans to expand the doughnut shop around the Valley.
“People seem to like it a lot,” Tillman says, “and I think we’ve got room to grow on this one.”
What to expect in Scottsdale
Tillman concedes that when they opened Outcast in downtown Mesa three years ago, it was important to have a space people could walk into and browse the pastry case. Now that doughnut fans in the Valley have gotten to know them, the Outcast team will test the hunch that people want to get their doughnuts and coffee on the go.
They know there will be plenty of newbies who pull into the drive-thru, too. To help them decide on their order, there will be a large menu board featuring images of Outcast’s doughnuts, whose toppings range from classic glaze to decadent dessert-like options. There’s the Cheeky Monkey with Nutella and bananas or Strawberry Shortcake, which is sliced in half and stacked with strawberries and cream, then finished with a sweetened condensed milk drizzle and a sprinkle of crumbled graham cracker.
Outcast also serves breakfast sandwiches made on croissant buns. Those can be piled high with bacon, egg, cheese and hash browns or spiced up with roasted green chiles, chorizo and crema.
The doughnut makers will also lean into specialty coffee, Tillman says, offering cold brew and espresso drinks as well as matcha. Among the shop’s espresso drinks is one made with chocolate and cinnamon, inspired by churros. Outcast’s team sources coffee beans from Scottsdale’s Tamosan Coffee Lounge. At the Scottsdale Outcast, the team will debut Lotus energy drinks, too, with flavor combinations including raspberry, blood orange and passionfruit.
In addition to ordering at the drive-thru, customers can pre-order their doughnuts and coffee online or have them delivered.
On Saturday, customers will get a free opening day doughnut “regardless of purchase.” The first 100 customers can also snag a free Outcast T-shirt.
As the new shop gets up and running, the team is already looking toward the next. In early 2027, Outcast is planned to open at the forthcoming Gilbert development, The Gilmore, located near Val Vista Drive and Germann Road. Outcast will join its sibling concepts within Incomparably Dope Venture Partners in the development — Rebel Wine Lounge, Level 1 Arcade Bar and its hidden cocktail bar.
The Outcast crew is also building a doughnut drive-thru from the ground up in east Mesa at the northwest corner of Ellsworth and Elliot roads. Tillman estimates that the Mesa Outcast drive-thru will open around mid-2027.
“We have big plans and a big vision for Outcast,” Tillman says.
Outcast Doughnuts
Opens Saturday, Aug. 1
2955 Hayden Road, Scottsdale
Sara Crocker
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