Mini doughnuts covered in ice cream. Where in Roseville is this popular restaurant opening?

Mini doughnuts are coming to Roseville.

Lil’ Hotties, a locally owned restaurant specializing in mini doughnut concoctions, is slated to open its first brick-and-mortar location inside the Westfield Galleria on Jan 16.

Owners Ron and Augustine Barnes started their business in February as a pop-up, after a years-long love affair with the dessert.

“There was a restaurant in San Francisco that made mini doughnuts and we used to drive there to get them,” Ron Barnes said. “I got addicted.”

Lil’ Hotties started serving treats at the Galt Flea Market, offering fresh cinnamon-sugar or powder-sugar doughnuts. Business quickly grew and the Barneses began serving at events across Sacramento County, including football games at Grant Union High School in Del Paso Heights.

“Our lines would be so long and we would be so tired, I knew we needed to look into doing a brick-and-mortar store,” he said.

The couple, who live in Elk Grove, looked into opening a store in Arden Fair mall, but couldn’t find an available spot and were put on a waiting list.

After a successful pop-up at the California Capital Airshow where they completely sold out of doughnuts, Barnes said he knew Lil’ Hotties needed a permanent home. And an opening at the Galleria was a “match made in Heaven.”

The Roseville store will serve two varieties of mini doughnuts and give customers the option of adding Gunther’s Ice Cream plus a choice of chocolate, caramel or strawberry sauce to go on top.

More menu items are in the works, Barnes said.

“Customer service is second-to-none,” he added. “Every time they order the mini doughnuts they are always going to be hot and fresh.”

This story was originally published January 10, 2023 at 10:17 AM.