Krispy Kreme was founded by Vernon Rudolph when he purchased a donut shop in Paducah, Kentucky along with a secret recipe for yeast-raised donuts in 1933. The secret recipe orginally came from a French chef.
Rudolph originally delivered the donuts by bicycle.
The company then became a family business when it moved to Nashville and other family members joined to help meet the growing customer demand.
In 1937 Rudolph sold his interest in the business and opened a new doughnut shop in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This new company sold directly to supermarkets as well as to individuals.
The company was named Krispy Kreme.
Krispy Kreme began to expand in the 1950’s and by the 1960’s the company was known throughout the Southeast.
In 1976 Krispy Kreme was acquired by Beatrice Foods of Chicago and became a wholly-owned subsidiary.
Krispy Kreme has been accused of “channel stuffing” by franchisees, whose stores reportedly “received twice their regular shipments in the final weeks of a quarter so that headquarters could make its numbers”. The company was also dogged by questionable transactions and self-dealing accusations over the buybacks of franchisees, including those operated by company insiders.
A report released in August 2005 singled out then-CEO Livengood and then-COO John W. Tate to blame for the accounting scandals although it did not find that the executives committed intentional fraud.
In May 2016, JAB Beech, a German investment firm, announced it made an offer to purchase the company for $1.35 billion over the following two months that would make the company privately owned. The transaction closed on July 27, 2016, and the company went private.
On July 5, 2021, the company went public again, only this time on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol: DNUT.
In September 2021, Krispy Kreme rolled out a new flavor, Apple Cider Doughnuts, but only for a limited time.
Krispy Kreme today operates as a branded retailer and wholesaler of doughnuts, bevarages, treats, and packages sweets. The company owns and operates about 1400 stores in 20 countries.
The company maintains a corporate office in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Krispy Kreme was founded by Vernon Rudolph when he purchased a donut shop in Paducah, Kentucky along with a secret recipe for yeast-raised donuts in 1933. The secret recipe orginally came from a French chef.
Rudolph originally delivered the donuts by bicycle.
History
The company then became a family business when it moved to Nashville and other family members joined to help meet the growing customer demand.
In 1937 Rudolph sold his interest in the business and opened a new doughnut shop in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This new company sold directly to supermarkets as well as to individuals.
The company was named Krispy Kreme.
Krispy Kreme began to expand in the 1950’s and by the 1960’s the company was known throughout the Southeast.
In 1976 Krispy Kreme was acquired by Beatrice Foods of Chicago and became a wholly-owned subsidiary.
Krispy Kreme has been accused of “channel stuffing” by franchisees, whose stores reportedly “received twice their regular shipments in the final weeks of a quarter so that headquarters could make its numbers”. The company was also dogged by questionable transactions and self-dealing accusations over the buybacks of franchisees, including those operated by company insiders.
A report released in August 2005 singled out then-CEO Livengood and then-COO John W. Tate to blame for the accounting scandals although it did not find that the executives committed intentional fraud.
In May 2016, JAB Beech, a German investment firm, announced it made an offer to purchase the company for $1.35 billion over the following two months that would make the company privately owned. The transaction closed on July 27, 2016, and the company went private.
On July 5, 2021, the company went public again, only this time on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol: DNUT.
In September 2021, Krispy Kreme rolled out a new flavor, Apple Cider Doughnuts, but only for a limited time.
Krispy Kreme today operates as a branded retailer and wholesaler of doughnuts, bevarages, treats, and packages sweets. The company owns and operates about 1400 stores in 20 countries.
The company maintains a corporate office in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Is your company available for franchising to superb locations to individuals? We have 350,000 cars a day to pass our site East Hartford Connecticut route 502 Silver Ln. in interstate 84 contact Greg Neary 860-983-5693.
I went to Krispy Kreme in Gadsden Al today and ordered 1/2 dozen (6) glazed doughnuts. The lady at the register said that would be $10.96…that is $1.65/ dough + tax. I guess I looked stunned and taken aback a bit, so the manager came and gave me a $1.00 senior discount so I paid $9.96 for 6 plain glazed doughnuts. I can only speak for me as a 75 yr old man, but your company charging that much for 1/2 dozen doughnuts is making your doughnuts out of most seniors price range, I only paid this…my last time..because my wife was sick and asked that I bring her home a doughnut when I took my daughter to chiropractor located right behind Krispy Kreme.
By the way, I asked what a dozen plain glazed doughnuts would cost and was told $18.96…unbelievable!
I guess days of using your doughnuts as a fund raiser is over at $18.96/ dozen.
The new store in Toledo Ohio is horrible. Stopped to get a dozen doughnuts and they tasted of old oil. Very unpleasant. The staff isn’t nice. It’s a shame. The location is in a high traffic area. But the staff ruins it. There used to be lines around the building. Not anymore. Such a shame.
Hello, I work at the Stockton Krispy Kreme location (2809 W March Ln, Stockton, CA, 95219) as a simple retail employee; taking orders, packing boxes, handling transactions and responsible for customer engagement. Even though I work minimum wage I understand that my job is important for keeping sales up, the better a customer’s experience, the more likely they will come back. However, my location received new management a couple months before I began working (which took 3 months since my initial interview to receive a callback). Our store struggles slightly to keep up customer satisfaction because of our poor management. The very obvious problem is lack of employees. My manager has once said “there’s just so much paperwork” and “I don’t like to talk to new people”, when a supervisor brought up the need for them. She has also rolled her eyes when an employee gave her the store phone after the employee explained the caller was asking about the status of his application.
Due to the lack of employees in retail, the customers lose their patience slightly quicker. And because we’re short staffed our donut decorators have to help during a rush and cover ten minute breaks and meal breaks. Our district manager has only been focusing on our store’s violations, she has not made much effort to help the store’s problems and even threatened to fire the few employees we have.
The problem with the processors (donut decorators) helping retail is that our store is a factory location; there is a machine to make the donuts which requires employees to assemble the donuts on a tray (or “catch” the donuts). As a factory store we are responsible for deliveries to bigger locations that do not have a machine each night. This becomes a difficult task to complete when one processor is “catching” and another is helping retail. Most nights there is only two processors so they have to wait til closing (10 pm) to finish decorating, during busy seasons it forces them to work well past midnight; opening shift has seen them race to finish before the delivery drivers are set to leave.
Recently many employees have left or had drastic changes in availability because of school and person affiliations. The store has not been prepared for this and yesterday (Saturday, Sept 11) there were 4 employees for night shift and today (Sunday, Sept 12) there were 3 employees for night shift.
Yesterday and tonight our supervisor had to do Production; that title only fits about 4 of our current employees, but 2 employees were not hired for that position and have other roles.This job is incredibly important for a factory store and will slow sale rates if not completed our mastered. The same problem in processing, if the correct number of each donut isn’t made retail must further disappoint the customers.
Retail can be very difficult if the mood of a customer is negatively affected. Usually that kind of thing is not affected by the location and a team member can add a kind impact to the customer’s day, but it can be difficult to be properly attentive to your customer service when a short-handed shift forces constant multi-tasking and may even distract you from remembering an order, causing voids and complaints. A customer must sit in line well over an average serving time and then be unable to quickly place an order due to lacking options, even more so when an order was lost and during a day free of promos that would create a line. Understaffed Donut Makers and Decorators would also ruin the quality and freshness of the food, understandably worsening a customer’s experience.
The problems increase when we lack the supplies, such as dozen boxes, proper coin change, damaged card readers, old coffee baskets, etc. The job is almost impossible to fulfill due to the lack of proper management. It is forgivable to not be able to account for a multiple personal emergencies that would remove employees from work, however if multiple job titles do not have enough participants to account for missing employees, then immediate action should be called.
I also do not entirely blame our store manager because she has the responsibility to properly manage the store, not just the employees. Usually our supervisor’s would be able to assist in these areas, but they are already overwhelmed because they are forced to cover absent positions. It becomes the responsibility of a district manager to give the stores the resources they need to solve these problems and prevent sale loses, rather than over focusing the policies of dress code and meal break violations. Those kinds of things are not the priorities of running a store but even still they would become much easier to account for when the store can properly run.
This is a fairly long comment, but this also proceeds to my life. I work full time and I don’t believe that minimum wage is worth this stress. I understand my responsibility as an employee and I also understand the standards required to fulfill those responsibilities. Not only that, but many of my coworkers and supervisors are being negatively affected by the extra labor that a short-staffed environment entails. It is difficult to remain unaffected when we are there at least 8 hours a day. Our attitude and appearances have obviously taken a toll, new hires sense it and their interest drastically decreases.
A month ago a new supervisor was employed and she got a long great with everyone she worked with, but she didn’t receive the most detailed training and the lack of positions filled in the other areas made it very difficult for her to run shifts and caused her to quit, even after two personal meeting with our general manager. That overwhelming list of responsibilities have caused many other employees to decrease their availability or quit.
In the past months about 4 people have been hired, but they are not able to cover the shifts that are lacking in employees (usually nightshift). And because there’s already a lack of help in these areas, the newly employed are not able to properly adjust to the fast paced work environment of drive-thru. Personal conflict has arisen from employees that are unable to multi-task and slowing down the work flow of retail area.
Again, I am working at the Stockton Krispy Kreme location, it would be really appreciated if more focus was put on this location and beneficial to increase the sale rates and customer satisfaction, especially since the location of this store is very valuable.
I am hoping that there is an increase in quantity and quality of employees. It would help the store run properly and ensure that each customer is getting the attention they need to ensure they’ll be back. The Krispy Kreme promotions bring people in, but our store often disappoints because of the problems above.
I LIVE IN PRINCETON,WV. THEY STOPPED DELIVERING IN THIS AREA. CAN YOU TELL ME IF & WHEN YOU MAY START BACK AND THE NEAREST STORE I CAN FIND THEM TO PRINCETON? THANK YOU
Raleigh Krispy Kreme donuts are being made cheaper….not the same good quality we used to have.
I have lived in Durham for 43 years and always loved the fresh donuts made in Raleigh on Person Street. The last few years, the staff has stopped putting in the same amount of raspberry jelly and also the cream filled ones. My favorite is jelly filled and my husband loves the cream filled ones with chocolate.
Why have they started putting in just a little tiny bit of jelly or filling? I’ve talked to 3 other neighbors who live in Wake Forest, Raleigh and Durham and they found the same problem. We’re starting to become less interested in promoting your donuts because of this poor quality.
My last visit, a couple weeks ago, and I went inside, told the girl that I had missed the wonderful filled jelly donuts and please check their equipment. I barely go any jelly in my whole dozen and my husband said his cream filled ones were the same small amount of filling.
When I talked to other friends in Wake Forest, Raleigh and in Durham, they said the same things. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO YOUR STAFF? IS IT POOR MANAGEMENT? IS IT BECAUSE THEY WANT TO SAVE MONEY USING LESS JELLY OR CREAM? SOMETHING IS WRONG.
DO I NEED TO CONTACT THE TV STATIONS? I certainly am disappointed. Which franchise makes good Krispy Kreme….? I’ll drive to Greensboro for good KK.
HELP. Please let me know how far I have to go for a GOOD DONUT.
READ ABOVE COMPLAINT
Sent info to you approx 1 week ago concerning a box of jelly donuts bought at Kroger Ironbridge Rd chesterfield Va. It had 2 donuts in box with no jelly in them,. It was a big disappointment. I have not heard from you about this. Did you get the complaint? I forgot which page I sent it on, but at the bottom of page there was a contact us to click on. I sent you all the info from the box. sku-0 72470 00223 5. Date8-29-18 beside date 024. Would appreciate hearing from you.
I usally stop at Krispy Kreme when I saw the hot sign on which use to mean a free hot dounut I usally don’t stop unless I see the hot sign on and then I and others I know will do a turn around go in getva hot free dounut and then buy several more just very disappointed that they discounted this practice that is the only time I stop in
The Alpharetta, Ga. Krispy Kreme shop is SKIMPING on the donuts they sell! I was there a few months ago and my cream filled glazed donut was 1/3 less the size, and the cream inside was equivalent to about a Tablespoon. I ordered another one, and it was the same way!
A few weeks ago I was in Greensboro, N.C. and stopped at a Krispy Kreme Shop. I ordered the same thing, and it was the way it always was, and should always be! This would make a good show for “Undercover Boss”. Somebody is skimping, and somebody’s not doing their job correctly in Alpharetta, Georgia!
Hi
I am hoping someone will read this and at least respond to me. A couple of weeks ago I went to the drive through of Krispy Kreme in Saco Me (which just opened recently). I ordered 2 original and proceeded to pay the 1.19 per donut, took my bag and went home. I noticed the bag was very light but until I opened it I didn’t realize how absurdly small my donuts were. Seriously .. the size of a sweet n low packet? I emailed and sent pictures to customer service that same day. I was given a case number and was asked for more information. I sent that information twice ( including my case number) and still no response in about a week and a half now. Last week I sent another email asking for a response but still nothing. All I was asking was for two more donuts and maybe talking to the Saco branch as I don’t believe that size is correct. That hand in the picture is mine. I am 110 lb small woman and it looks like my hand is ginormous compared to that extremely tiny donut. I will not continue to go there if this is the norm. I mean if the donuts were 25 cents or 50 cents ok but for 1.19 each plus tax I expect more than a donut that can be eaten in two bites. Please help me get resolution to this.
Sincerely
An unhappy customer
Deb
I had a bad experience when I went into the Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Albuquerque NM.
It was 6:30 P.M. and they were just about out of doughnuts. If I could up load pictures to show how the glass cases were empty. I did speak to the manager on duty but she seemed not to care how her shelves were empty with no doughnuts to sell. February 13,2018. I did call the corporate office to let them know what was going on at the Albuquerque, NM location. I will not go to this location until the staff and management have changed because
this location is not friendly and no product to sale. This trip was just a waste of time.
My family has always enjoyed your donuts…. until this week. We’ve patronized your stores for over 40 years now, but I have my doubts that I’ll be going back to the one in Knightdale North Carolina. When we asked for lemon donuts, we were told there weren’t any. We asked if there were any in the back and the guy said only 3… so we said, ok, we’ll take those.; He went back into the other room and came back out with the box with 3 donuts in it. We then asked for Jelly filled and were told there weren’t any. they were right in front of him in the case.. so we pointed this out. We asked for boston cream filled donuts, and specifically told him not the white cream filled, because we don’t like those. He put 1 of the correct donuts in the box and 5 of the white cream. We weren’t quite sure what we got until we got home with the boxes. Only the 6 glazed ones were correct. The other dozen and a half were totally wrong. This guy was a young black man, maybe 17-18 years of age, and acted like he didn’t know what he was doing and really didn’t care. It was like we were interfering with him or something. If we do go back to the store, we will walk out if he is there, since we don’t care to give our money to people that can’t do the job correctly. I was very disappointed in this and when I mentioned it to a friend, she told me she had gone to that same store the night before and had the same problem, which sounded like the very same young man. I believe maybe you should send someone incognito to that store and watch. Your Knightdale store has already lost 2 customers that have been very loyal, and I think you will lose more if this is the kind of customer service we keep getting.
I went to the collingswood store on the 16th, i wanted to pick up a dozen donuts for my kids I asked the attendent what kind of donuts you have they were very nasty & replied glazed donuts is all we have! At that point I should of walked out but I still purshased a dozen, when I got home I gave the kids & my husband the donuts & on the donut was a piece of hair, now im furious not only did I buy donuts that I couldnt choose from, but threw them out because no one would eat them! I am very disappointed in the store, at this point I realy dont think I would go back there! The donuts are not cheap and I am so upset over this, because I feel I was made a jerk out of.
I live in St. Ann, Missouri and we have a new development going up called Northwest Crossings and I think it would be a perfect place to put one of your franchise’s in. At this time to get to one we have to go close to 20 miles to buy them. Please give it some thought.
Hello!
I work in the Management Office for Tanger Outlets in Myrtle Beach. At 8:30 this morning, I went to pick up a dozen donuts for our meeting. When it was time to pay, the associate took my debit card, swiped it and said that it froze up her register. She then informed me that it was declined – stating that the receipt said “DECLINED: Could not make Ssl c”. She tried again and showed her that there was plenty of money in my checking account. She tried 3 more times and got the same response. I then gave her my American Express card, but was informed you do not accept those. So, I had to return the donuts, drive 10 minutes to get money from my bank ATM, drive back to KK and wait again at the drive thru. I let the associate know that there has to be an issue with her register because my card worked perfectly fine. She then handed me the same dozen of donuts that she gave me 15 minutes earlier, I returned them and asked for new ones that were hot and fresh. After doing some research, my bank let me know that it was a connection issue with the register itself and NOT my card. This just didn’t sit well with me that I had to drive across town to get cash, when there was nothing wrong with my card. If it was declined for insufficient funds, the code “206” would show up on the register and receipt. That was not the case. The associate even called her manager and he said “it was declined, so they can’t accept it!” I know it was only $12 (yes, we purchased 3 apple donuts too), but the entire principle of having to drive across town just doesn’t sit well with me. I was hoping they would make this right.
Krispy Kreme
1806 North Kings Highway
Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
843.448.3029
Server: Kaitlin
Date: 5/13/14
Time: 8:33AM
Thanks!