Forget the afternoon - early morning is the happy hour now.

Happy Hour Donuts, owned by alumni Gabby and Ryan Main, offers a variety of delicious donuts and fun drinks in a bright, vibrant local setting. The pair are putting their degrees in communications (Gabby) and business administration (Ryan) to good use in running their own shop.

To share more, they answered some questions below.

How did you meet?

We met on OKCupid!

"Ryan was the first one to make the move and I responded to him about a week later," said Gabby.

Over a decade later, we’ve spent our entire twenties together and wouldn’t change it for the world! We’ve been together for over 10 1/2 years and married for over 7 1/2 years.

How did your business get started?

We started our business in 2020 when we were heading up to Denver to pick up a barbell for Ryan’s personal training business. As a personal trainer, he was furloughed from Gold’s Gym (due to the COVID-19 pandemic); therefore, he decided to get a barbell from Facebook Marketplace. The barbell was located in the Denver metro area and we decided to go together.

"Once we were on the way back, I wanted to stop and grab a donut; however, Ryan told me no," said Gabby. "As a result, I stated 'I’ll make my own donuts then.' Ryan didn’t believe I was going to do it. The next day - June 6, 2020 - I started making donuts."

We started with cake donuts and then transitioned to yeast donuts at the end of the year. It took us six months to perfect the recipe. We started doing custom orders, pop-ups and wedding orders from our 808 sq. ft. apartment. We then decided to document our entire journey on social media. After saving up all of the revenue the business made, we then had the opportunity to look for a storefront location. We were able to find the perfect storefront location in June 2023 and we opened in May 2024.

What’s the best part of what you do?

Being our own boss is a huge aspect.

"I always wanted to be my own boss ever since I was young," said Gabby. "I've always been entrepreneurial. I started selling self-made greeting cards door-to-door at age eight."

"I always enjoys the journey," said Ryan. "I love building something from scratch."

As a result, we both saw this opportunity with this donut business to build a life that we always wanted to live. Plus we could depend on one another to make it work!

What does a typical day look like?

"I wake up at 9:00 p.m. the night before to go work out," said Ryan. "Then I come home to wake up Gabby around 12:00 a.m., and we travel to the donut shop and make the donuts. Our dough, glazes and buttercream are all made from scratch and are time and labor intensive. The dough must be made that morning in order to ensure the best tasting donuts. The entire process takes about six hours for a typical weekday."

"After the dough is made, it goes into our proofing machine and then Ryan fries the donuts," added Gabby. "After frying, the donuts are cooling down to then be glazed and usually topped or filled with buttercream! Once those donuts are finished, we turn on the front lights and neon sign, turn our shop music on and open the store!"

If we sell out, we do close up our shop early and post on social media to let others know that we are sold out for the day. If we do not sell out, we donate all of our unused donuts to the community. We don’t believe in food waste, plus we want these donuts to be enjoyed by others. It’s also a marketing decision we’ve made to try and acquire new customers that might have not heard about us!

What achievement are you most proud of?

Opening our donut shop, with no debt or loan, is our biggest achievement. We know multiple food establishments and local businesses that have large loans or debt that are an ongoing expense. Knowing that we were able to properly plan for our future storefront is the biggest blessing we could have asked for.

How did your UCCS education prepare you for your career?

Our UCCS education helped prepare us by knowing how to categorize expenses with our accounting software, while learning the proper business acumen and understanding financial statements were both necessary tools we've utilized throughout our entire journey. From the beginning, we've tracked the ROI on each donut flavor possible in order to see which products offered the best margins.

What do you like to do when you’re not at work?

We love to travel - especially internationally. We always travel with a carry-on backpack only (each) and then try to maximize 1-2 days in a country. We’ve been to over ten international spots in the past few years. We love attending soccer (football) matches overseas as well. Gabby’s favorite place she’s visited is Rome, Italy while Ryan’s was Newcastle, UK.

If we are not traveling, we are either watching soccer, working out or relaxing.

What advice do you have for current UCCS students?

Follow your dreams. Don’t quit. Keep going. Bet on yourself. Also, document your journey on social media, because you can directly see how much you’ve improved since the start.