Have you ever craved a healthy comfort food and, at the same time, just really wanted a donut? Well, you’re in luck! Join host Cherie Scott, Thursday Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. as she welcomes Leigh Kellis - the next special guest in Lincoln Theater’s free series “Talking Food in Maine: Intimate Conversations.”  Come learn the story behind Leigh Kellis, a mother whose craving for something deeply satisfying led to her creation of The Holy Donut in Portland and Scarborough.

With no money and few skills to open a donut shop, Leigh Kellis started with the means she had. First, Kellis created her donut: made with fresh Maine potatoes, using as many local ingredients as possible, made by hand and cooked in a small fryer just four at a time. She made these first batches of donuts right out of her house on Munjoy Hill in Portland and got local coffee shop “Coffee by Design” to start selling them - a dozen each day. By learning, adjusting, and sharing samples, Kellis’ wholesale donut business grew to 40 dozen donuts a week, then to 100 dozen donuts a week, and after just one year expanded to a retail location on Portland’s Park Avenue.

Kellis, her father, and one employee continued to grow the business, all while maintaining the quality of Kellis’ homemade potato donut. The following year, Kellis opened another location along with her brother in law, Jeff Buckwalter, on Exchange Street in Portland’s Old Port, and shortly thereafter expanded to their largest location in Scarborough – complete with donut drive-through! Today, The Holy Donut has almost 80 employees and makes two million donuts a year with rotating flavors from old fashioned, lemonade, and Allen’s coffee brandy flavored donuts, to dark chocolate sea salt – their most popular flavor. They also offer sweet potato based donuts, seasonal flavors, vegan and gluten free choices, and even donut cakes. Holy Donut!

Host Cherie Scott was born in Mumbai but now calls Maine her home. In 2015, she launched her culinary blog, MumbaitoMaine.com, to share her signature recipes and nostalgic anecdotes of her youth in Mumbai. Scott recently curated a culinary series on regional Indian cuisine offered exclusively at the Stonewall Kitchen Cooking School in York. To celebrate Maine’s upcoming bicentennial and gastronomic talent, Cherie launched Mumbai to Maine’s podcast with a signature series: Maine’s Bicentennial Food Podcast -a bi-weekly culinary podcast sponsored by Maine Magazine’s Eat Maine. Each episode showcases Maine’s most creative and accomplished culinary taste-makers, food innovators, cookbook authors and entrepreneurs.

The Theater is located at 2 Theater St. More information on this free event can be found on the Lincoln Theater website at www.lcct.org or by calling the theater office at 563-3424 during office hours, Tuesday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.