Krispy Kreme

Krispy Kreme is an American doughnut company and coffeehouse chain owned by JAB Holding. The company Krispy Kreme operates in over thirty countries through fresh doughnut shops, partnerships with leading retailers, and a rapidly growing e-commerce and delivery business with approximately 12,000 fresh points of access. Krispy Kreme sells a variety of food products, including doughnuts that can come glazed with sugar or topped with powdered sugar, cinnamon, sprinkles, or fruit. The company sells these in retail store locations and through grocery stores. Examples of doughnut flavors include the company's original glazed, caramel glaze, salted double caramel crunch, and seasonal flavors such as passionfruit party or raspberry lemonade.

The company has also developed a mobile application for ordering and purchasing. A "Hot Light" hours promotion is featured, both in person and through the app, during which time customers can get a $5 original glazed dozens. This offer is intended to remind customers of the red "Hot Now" neon lights that are used by the company to signal to customers that hot, fresh doughnuts have just come off the line.

The company was founded by Vernon Rudolph, whose uncle Ishmael Armstrong bought the recipe and name for the doughnut from New Orleans chef Joe LeBeau. Ishmael Armstrong initially hired Vernon Rudolph to sell the doughnuts door-to-door. In 1937, Vernon and two friends were in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. There, they borrowed the ingredients and began baking doughnuts that were sold to local grocery stores, convenience stores, and customers who visited the store during baking time. This wholesale/retail system is still used by Krispy Kreme.

In 1976, after a few decades of expansion that began during the 1950s and saw Krispy Kreme becoming known throughout the Southeast and expansion outside of that market, the company became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Beatrice Foods of Chicago, Illinois. In 1982, a group of franchisees purchased Krispy Kreme back from Beatrice Foods.

Krispy Kreme went public in 2001, and the company reached shares priced at $50 within a few years after its IPO. However, in 2004, the company began to experience losses, with an aggressive expansion plan and the addition of boxed doughnuts in 20,000 grocery stores, resulting in market saturation. In 2005, a twenty-four-page report revealed the company was fraught with accounting errors and had failed to meet its financial reporting obligations, which blocked the company from expanding in the United States until those finances were in order. The company tried instead for international expansion, which offered a boost in short-term capital to help with the financial mess.

In 2016, JAB Holdings purchased Krispy Kreme for $1.35 billion, and the company went private again. The acquisition improved the company's financial circumstances, with an increase in global sales by 58 percent to $960 million since 2015. During this time period, Krispy Kreme was testing new doughnut flavors and related product prototypes. The company went public again (Symbol: DNUT) and was listed on Nasdaq on July 1st, 2021.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the chain saw a boost in same-store sales, despite giving away millions of doughnuts during the pandemic. This year also saw the company return to New York City with the opening of a flagship experiential store in Times Square. In 2021, Krispy Kreme started a promotion to give a free doughnut every day of the year to people showing their COVID-19 vaccination card.