New Kensington native's new doughnut shop gives customers chance to customize treats

One’s imagination is the menu at a new doughnut shop in New Kensington.

Customers of Lasko’s Little O’s can pick a glaze, choose toppings and select a drizzle to create a doughnut that maybe even Homer Simpson couldn’t dream up.

“We’re like a Subway for doughnuts,” owner Mikey Lasko Sr. said. “You can have it your way, any way you want.”

It can be a bit overwhelming for some. Lasko said one customer spent 45 minutes customizing six doughnuts.

Lasko, 55, opened Lasko’s Little O’s in May. It’s the first business for the New Kensington native, who said he had been working on it for a couple of years, and among the latest of the more than five dozen businesses that have opened in the city over the past 28 months.

“I saw this town when every store had a storefront in it. My dream was to have a store in New Kensington,” he said. “I see the revitalization coming, and I took my life savings to open this.”

An Army medic from 1985 to 1988, Lasko previously was a marketing manager for Liberty Tax Service for 17 years. It was while attending corporate seminars in Virginia Beach that he noticed a doughnut shop, Duck Donuts, and thought it was a good idea.

His marketing background is evident outside and inside his shop, from its sign along Seventh Street to the window decorations and the logo T-shirts for sale. Lasko isn’t above putting on a doughnut costume to catch the attention of passing drivers.

Bright colors might be expected at a doughnut store, but the ones at Lasko’s Little O’s carry meaning. Teal is the color for ovarian cancer, of which his wife, Shannon, is a survivor. Pink is for breast cancer, which Shannon’s mom, Donna Moore, survived.

“Everything was for a purpose,” he said.

He offers a 10% discount for those with and who have survived cancer, as well as for military veterans.

Some may see the prices — $2 for one doughnut, $10 for a half-dozen and $20 for a dozen — as steep, but Lasko said he’s been selling out every day since opening May 16. Bacon maple is the top seller.

“Everybody’s been really supportive,” he said.

He sells Perry’s ice cream in addition to doughnuts. There are sugar-free and lactose-free choices among the 16 flavors. The best seller has been banana cream pie.

“When you walk in the door, you become a kid,” he said. “The kid comes out in you.”

Lasko says New Kensington is changing “for the good,” and, he hopes, so is he. He doesn’t deny having a troubled past with alcohol, drugs and the law.

“All I can do is make my future better,” he said.

That includes being clean for almost 19 years.

“I like being sober,” he said. “You see the world in a different light.”

William Grey, the office supervisor at Liberty Tax Service for 14 years, said he has known Lasko since they were about 5.

“He’s a great guy. He’s very well-liked throughout the community. He’ll help anyone he can,” Grey said. “He’s turned his life around completely. I’m proud of him, especially with opening a new business. I wish him all the success he can have.”

Lasko said he is going to work hard to make his business a success.

“If I succeed or fail, I know I gave it my best effort,” he said.