Jane Rodriquez said her strength is in business management while her friend Joe Berkane is a baker.

The pair decided to combine their expertise and the result is Brighton's newest doughnut shop. The Donut Social celebrated its opening with a ribbon cutting on July 15.

"We are putting our hearts into this, and he's putting all his energy into it with baking and passionate about what he does," Rodriguez said. "We both have our strengths with a solid plan."

Donut Social had a soft opening on June 25, with shorter hours until the grand opening. With that behind them, they plan to extend to longer hours and expand the menu.

"I'm excited about opening our doughnut shop in Brighton," Berkane said.

Rodriquez is a native of Colorado, born and raised in the southern San Luis Valley. Throughout the years, she has had a few small businesses and worked for Weld County Human Services. Rodriquez has experience with running a business and accounting management. She has two kids.

Berkane is from Algeria and has been in the United States for eight years. He has experience working as a baker and in a small doughnut shop in Algeria.

Berkane runs the production, trains employees, and trains part-time bakers to help him.

"We want to support the community and local businesses," Rodriquez said. "A local woodworking company did all the remodeling and building our cases in the doughnut shop."

Berkane and Rodriquez said they support local youth with encouragement that they can do bigger and better things in the world.

"We are going reach out to the schools, students with good grades and perfect attendance. We'll give the kiddos doughnuts," she said. 

The Donut Social is ideal for students to come in and study, or for business folks to have a meeting. There is a place for the kids to have fun and eat specialty doughnuts with gummy bears or sprinkles.

 "We want to give the older population somewhere to feel comfortable to come out and chat and have a cup of coffee visit with friends. We will serve the middle-aged customer, and we have Wi-Fi outlets," she said.

They'll have a hefty variety of offerings, with freshly-baked specialty doughnuts daily.  Berkane's top-selling doughnuts so far have been the fritters baked with apple, pineapple and blueberry. Customers love cake doughnuts or the old-fashioned doughnut, too.

"We like being active, in being involved, and supporting the community, families, and local businesses is our primary business model," Rodriquez said.