The new owners of Frosty’s Donuts on Maine Street hoped to build the business to the point where they could sell 200 dozen doughnuts a day by the end of 2012.

On Monday, the bake shop’s third day of operation since reopening under new ownership, 250 dozen (3,000) doughnuts had rolled out the door by 10:30 a.m., and in line with the downtown doughnut shop’s legacy, the “sold out” sign went up again.

Co-owner Shelby St. Andre said Monday that business “ has been better than we could have expected.”

Currently, four people — including John Frost, the son of Frosty’s founder, Bob Frost — staff the baking operation and two staff the counter at the business that held its grand opening Saturday.

Already, said St. Andre’s husband and co-owner Nels Omdal, the shop will look to hire more employees to keep up with demand.

The line of customers wrapped around the building for the store’s grand opening at 8 a. m. Saturday, Omdal said. Frosty’s sold more than 200 dozen doughnuts in less than two hours.

The turnout itself was a surprise for the couple, but when the doughnuts ran out, St. Andre said the couple was even more surprised by the response.

“People started clapping,” St. Andre said.

After seeing some customers wait hours through a cold morning that brought light snowfall across the Midcoast region, St. Andre said the response brought a tear to her eye.

Omdal said the shop will focus on boosting daily production to meet in- store demand before taking on other outside delivery orders.

“We’re going to make sure we feed those customers before we fill other orders,” Omdal said.

dfishell@timesrecord.com