Krispy Kreme is a chain of doughnut stores. Its parent company is Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (NYSE: KKD), based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States.
Krispy Kreme sells a variety of doughnuts,
but it is most famous for its traditional glazed doughnut, often served
warm. Select varieties of Krispy Kreme doughnuts are carried in many grocery stores, convenience stores, and gas stations. Krispy Kreme doughnuts can also be found in some larger Wal-Mart and Target stores in the United States, Wal-Mart, Loblaws supermarkets and Petro-Canada gas stations in Canada, and now many Tesco supermarkets and Tesco Extra hypermarkets in the United Kingdom.
The company's growth was steady prior to its initial public offering but profits have decreased in recent quarters.[1]As of February 2008, Kuwait-based M A Kharafi Group owned 9.1% of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc.[2]Most
free-standing Krispy Kreme stores are constructed with a long window
between the customer area and the kitchen allowing patrons to watch the
operation of the doughnut making machines. The machines produce rings
of dough, yeast raise, bake, deep-fry, flip, and glaze
the doughnuts. These stores have a neon sign that, when lit (usually
morning and evening), tells customers that hot, fresh Original Glazed
doughnuts are coming off the line at that moment. Some smaller
locations, however, bring in their doughnuts from other locations
rather than producing them on-site. Krispy Kreme's competitors within
the United States include Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks, and Winchell's.
The founder, Vernon Rudolph,
worked for his uncle, Ishmael Armstrong, who purchased a secret recipe
for yeast-raised doughnuts and a shop on Broad Street in Paducah, Kentucky,
from Joseph LeBeouf of Lake Charles, LA . Rudolph began selling the
yeast doughnuts in Paducah and delivered them on his bicycle. The
operation was moved to Nashville, TN, and other family members joined
to meet the customer demand. Rudolph sold his interest in the Nashville
store and in 1937 opened a doughnut shop in Winston-Salem, NC, and
began selling to groceries and then directly to individual customers.
The first Krispy Kreme store was located in a rented building on South
Main Street in Winston-Salem in what is now called historic Old Salem.
By
the 1960s, Krispy Kreme was well-known throughout the southeastern
United States, and it began to expand into other areas of the country.
In 1976, Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation became a wholly owned subsidiary of Beatrice Foods Company of Chicago, Illinois. The headquarters for Krispy Kreme remained in Winston-Salem.A group of franchisees purchased the corporation back from Beatrice Foods in 1982.In 2003, a pilot project in Mountain View, California, to sell doughnuts through car windows and sunroofs at a busy intersection (with wireless payment) failed.On June 3, 2005, National Doughnut Day in the US, participating franchises gave away free doughnuts.
On February 19, 2007, Krispy Kreme began selling the Whole Wheat Glazed doughnut in an attempt to appeal to the health conscious. The doughnut has twenty kilocalories (83,736 J) fewer than the original glazed (180 vs. 200 kcal) and contains more fiber (2 grams vs. 0.5 grams). As of January 2008, Krispy Kreme doughnuts are free of trans fats and are labeled as "0 grams of trans fat".
