Tragedy at the Famous VooDoo Doughnut

VooDoo Doughnut

Most of you would probably agree that food and travel go hand in hand .

When visiting a new destination, I try to do some research to find popular places to try out. Most of the time this means the best burgers and pizza in a city.

During our trip to Portland, Oregon in late 2016, besides a couple of famous pizzerias, I had to make a stop at VooDoo Doughnut. I had heard of the famous shop on a number of food- travel shows and have wanted to try their doughnuts for years. We all loved VooDoo Doughnuts and even stopped at VooDoo Too at the end of our visit.

It turns out that VooDoo Doughnut also has some locations outside of Portland.

Tragedy struck at VooDoo Doughnut Mile High, located in Denver, Colorado last weekend.

A 42 year-old man was competing in a “doughnut speed eating challenge” according to Eater, when he started choking around half way in. (In the challenge, you need to finish a half-pound doughnut in 80 seconds or less.)

The man, Travis Malouf died in the lobby of VooDoo Doughtnut due to “asphyxia, due to obstruction of the airway,” according to the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner.

A couple of  people tried to help save Malouf to no avail. The tragedy took place around 1:30 am.

The Denver Post reports that VooDoo Doughnuts has since “suspended its eating challenge” at their seven locations.

6 thoughts on “Tragedy at the Famous VooDoo Doughnut

  1. Joe- Good point…

    Lee- I made a mistake- the other death I read about was a pancake contest where a girl tragically died.

    William- I disagree. Had both- Blue Star were OK, had high expectations. Didn’t expect much from VooDoo and we thought they were very good. Even went a second time to the other location.

  2. voodoo donuts are sh*t compared to blue star donuts, and that’s from a Portlander. Only tourists go to voodoo now a days.

  3. Lee- Sadly, it’s the second doughnut related death I read about in the past week… We really enjoyed VooDoo & VooDoo Too! Wasn’t a fan of Blue Star in Portland.

  4. Wow, just nuts. As the saying goes, “nothing good happens after midnight.” You can be sure that alcohol was involved. On a brighter note, I have been to both the Portland and Denver locations. Definitely worth checking out.

    1. “You can be sure that alcohol was involved” –
      1) Are you speculating or do you know for sure?
      2) Does it matter?

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